


A Grumpy Way Out

by amazinglyhorribleegg



Category: A Way Out (Video Game), Game Grumps
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Prison, Attempt at Humor, Canon-Typical Violence, Crack Crossover, Crossover, Crossovers & Fandom Fusions, Dialogue Heavy, F/M, Gen, Heart-to-Heart, Misunderstandings, My First Work in This Fandom, Prison, Swearing, Violence, Warnings May Change, Work In Progress, dan is so done
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-09
Updated: 2018-12-01
Packaged: 2019-05-05 16:51:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 16
Words: 40,228
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14623020
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/amazinglyhorribleegg/pseuds/amazinglyhorribleegg
Summary: When Dan Avidan came to prison, he expected to lay low and be in and out without being noticed. That changes when he meets Arin Hanson, a goofy, talkative guy who has the same goal as Dan: Find Mark Fischbach and kill him. Can they work together or will Dan break under Arin's constant sexual innuendos?-=-"Look, it's simple," Dan tried to make it sound like there would be no chance of backlash for Arin. "I just need you to watch my back while I get it,"Arin looked at him with a confused look. "Get what? Your rocks off?"Dan snorted. "No, dude. Just, come on,"-=-Literally just "A Way Out but it's the grumps making the same jokes they do in the playthrough" crack. ((Currently on an unspecified hiatus))





	1. That's... That's Jail Murder

  ** _Arin Hanson (31 years old)_**

_Crimes: Manslaughter, Riot, identity fraud_  

_Sentence: About to serve 11 years_

_Personality: Joker, unstable, short-tempered_

****

**_Dan Avidan (39 years old)_ **

_Crimes: Drug abuse, murder_

_Sentence: served 6 months out of 13 years_

_Personality: Adaptable, manipulator, calm_

* * *

 

* * *

 

"Hey, someone wants to see you," Danny looks up quickly at the unfamiliar voice.

"Yeah?" Dan spoke. "Who?"

"I dunno man, he's over there," The man pointed at the other side of the yard. "That's all I know."

Dan watched the man walk off. After a few seconds he looked over, as if he would see a neon sign pointing at the person who 'Wanted to see him'. After not seeing the fake neon sign Danny stood up and started to walk over.

He knew the yard well, as he had been in prison for half a year already. If he had enough money to get a half decent lawyer he could have fought against a majority of his years but that just wasn't the case. Now, he was stuck for thirteen years.

Danny walked around the park aimlessly, hoping someone would go up to him, because he honestly had no idea who he was looking for, or if he was even in the right place. He barely paid attention to where he was going when he was suddenly yanked aside by someone. He made a noise that definitely wasn't a girly yelp, not at all, as he got punched in the stomach. There were two men grabbing both of his arms, preventing him from escaping. There was another man walking towards him.

"There you are," The man in front of him said. "Time to play,"

_God dammit,_ Dan thought. _Are these the people who wanted to talk to me? I can't fight for sh-_

His thought got cut off when the man punched him in the stomach again, causing Dan to almost fall over.

"What the fuck do you want?" Dan yelled, shaking his head to get his curly hair out of his face.

"This isn't about what I want," The man said menacingly. "This is about what Mark wants,"

Dan felt a rush of anger when he heard Mark.

"That piece of shit better be happy he's not locked up!" Dan yelled back.

"He may be on the outside, but he pays me good. In fact, he pays me really good to kill you. It's a win-win situation for me." The man swung at Dan's face, his fist colliding with Danny's cheek.

"Wow, he must have not paid you yet," Another man watching called out.

"Oh, shut your mouth or I'll shut it for you!" The man yelled out as he stepped back from Dan, watching him struggle like he enjoyed it.

"Well, you're not doing a good job killing him, huh?" The man in the crowd spoke again. This time, the guy in front of Dan turned around, facing the group of inmates. "Oh yeah? Well stop being a pussy and come here!"

Dan watched in surprise as a man got pushed out of the crowd and thrown into the small basketball court where Danny was. The guy - he looked a bit younger than Dan was - tried to step back but it was too late. The green-haired dude that punched Dan was now going after the younger guy. God, Dan wished he knew people's names.

And suddenly they were fighting. Damn, did that young guy seem good. He seemed uncertain at first but as soon as he was in the zone he was tough, like all his morals were thrown out the window. Dan couldn't watch for too long because he was fighting with another guy, attempting to dodge punches and hitting whenever he could. Dan didn't realize how good he was doing until he pushed the green-haired guy against the fence. Maybe it was watching the others fight that gave him motivation, or maybe it was the mention of Mark that got him riled up, but either way he was kicking their asses.

"Oh, shit! We're doing good!" The young guy yelled. Dan turned around but could barely watch as he was still fighting, one guy after another. Or maybe they were the same guy? Who knows.

As soon as it started it was over, and the police were running in.

"Hey! Break it up before I put you all in solitary!" Dan stood back, getting a good glare from one of the guards as he watched the others walk out. He turned around and saw that guy that helped him fight earlier.

Something was up, and Dan knew it. He didn't want to get mixed up in all the drama. He wanted to leave as soon as possible so he could go back to smoking pot and making music.

"Stay the hell away from me, okay?" Dan threatened, hoping it would sound scary.

"What did I do?" The guy called, but Dan was walking away.

 

Why would Dan ever think that he wouldn't see that guy again? They're in the same prison, for fucks sakes. He was walking up to the cafeteria when he saw that same guy in line, making a comment about beans. Dan made himself look away and instead look at the two men standing in his way.

"Hey, you think I can get through?" Dan asked, hoping for no arguments. He just wanted to get his food and sit down, but the guys were being a pain.

"Hmm? Do you hear anything?" Guy one asked.

"No, probably just a fly," Guy two responded.

Dan sighed and stood there for a second, his patience dwindling. He raised his hand and before Dan knew what he was doing he slapped the guy in the face.

"You hear me now?" Dan exclaimed. He barely looked over and saw the young guy smiling and watching him with a raised eyebrow. He wanted to yell at him to mind his own fucking business but instead he just shoved the two guys out of his way and went to get his food.

Except that wasn't the end.

It never was.

"Hey, get out of my way! I'm gonna get you!" A guy all but screamed. Dan turned around to see the same green haired guy - Jack, he learned his name was, running towards him with a fucking pen. Dan was pushed against the counter and where was the security?

"Oh, shit! He's gonna shank you, dude!" The familiar voice yelled from, you guessed it, the crowd.

"Yeah, I think I see that!" Dan yelled. But that same guy was now helping Dan fight Jack and Dan was grateful, because for a second he was truly afraid he was going to get shanked.

Dan was thrown into the kitchen where he was being chased by a random guy. He quickly dealt with him but when he looked up there were more, including Jack, surrounding him. The young guy was trying to fight, but mostly dodging attacks. Dan knew he was screwed but realized he was double screwed when Jack held two butcher knives in the air, screaming.

And now Dan was running like a baby, only he really had a reason to run. The fucking guy was a psychopath, yelling and pushing things out of the way.

"You would think they wouldn't leave knives out where prisoners can get them," Dan looked over and the young guy was slowly backing away from Jack and his buds along with him. Dan was going to answer but got cut off.

"I'm gonna throw it at him! Yeah!" The young guy threw a pan at Jack's face, but it did little to stop him, thanks to the weak throw. That gave Dan an idea, though and soon they were both tossing over garbage cans and throwing pots, anything to slow Jack down. But, as like most kitchens do, this one came to an end, and he was being cornered by a crazy guy waving knives around. And - does he have a green eye?

"Hey! Get down!" Dan was relieved to see the guards finally run up, but Jack didn't stop.

"Who wants to die first? You? You?" A guard went running up to stop him but Jack stabbed him. And, like, actual stabbed. Not even a cut.

"Oh shit. That was right in the heart," Dan mentioned, surprised at the guard now dead just a few feet in front of him. The two other guards brought Jack down, hitting him with the batons.

"That's... that's jail murder," young dude said.

"No shit,"

 

Dan hurt. A lot.

Almost like he was beaten up in the morning and chased by a guy with two knives in the afternoon - oh, wait, that's exactly what happened.

He had to look away while getting the shot of painkillers (Hopefully) and bit back a gasp when she put the needle in. He was talked to by the nurse like some five-year old at the doctors but was left alone.

"I just injected you with cyanide," holy shit, why is that guy following Dan everywhere he goes? And why does he keep making shit jokes? Dan shook his head and a chisel caught his eye from the other room. There were guards, so he wasn't even going to attempt it. Until he got an idea.

If he could get that guy on his side, maybe he could use him to escape.

"Hey, I'm Dan," Dan nodded in the guys' direction. He was laying down on his bed, his hands behind his head.

"Arin," Arin responded. A smile grew on his face and Dan wanted to smack it off of him. "I thought you told me to stop talking to you?"

Dan decided to ignore what Arin said. "Hey, umm, thanks." Dan could feel the awkwardness radiate off of his voice. He was never good with thank you's. "I mean it, man,"

"What's your beef with that guy, anyway?" Arin asked.

"Lets just say it's a long story," There was silence, maybe even more awkward than most things Dan says.

"Hey, can you do me a favour?"

"Like what?"

"Look, it's simple," Dan tried to make it sound like there would be no chance of backlash for Arin. "I just need you to watch my back while I get it,"

Arin looked at him with a confused look. "Get what? Your rocks off?"

Dan snorted. "No, dude. Just, come on. You won't even need to move,"

"Not interested,"

After everything that just happened, Dan didn't want to waste his time any more than necessary. "You know what? I'll do it myself," He turned over on the bed and went to stand up.

"Wait, wait, wait. You can't just leave!" Arin yell-whispered.

"And why not?" Dan looked over with a glare.

"We'll both get in trouble, man!"

Dan shook his head. "I don't have a choice,"

"Fine, you dumb twat. I'll help you," Arin muttered.

"Thanks. Distract the nurse," Dan laid back down and waited for the nurse to walk in, until -

"Nuurrssee!" Arin yelled in an annoying voice. Dan startled and glared at Arin. "I need some bed time stories!"

"Oh my god dude," Dan turned over and hit his head against the pillow. It did work, though, and the nurse was walking up to Arins bed with a bored expression. Now was his chance.

Dan stood and slowly snuck out of the room, listening as Arin asked idiotic questions. He made it around the corner and down the hallway, pausing when there was a guard at the table.

"Shit," Dan muttered. He was thinking about making the walk back until he heard a knock on the window and the guard jumped up, spilling his drink. When Dan looked over he saw Arin giving the thumbs up through the window. Dan smiled and continued through, getting some really close calls with another guard. Finally, he made it back to bed, noticing Arin was talking about a completely different topic than before.

Maybe this guy would be a bit useful.

 

Two days later Dan and Arin were both out. Danny realized that Arin wasn't that bad of a guy, after all. He made crude jokes that lead to Dan glaring at him, but Dan couldn't deny it when Arin said "You secretly like my humor, don't you?"

Dan put the chisel on the outside of the window when he needed to get a pat-down, but he had a plan. Maybe he could bring Arin around for a bit longer, tease him down the journey and abandon him at the last moment.

He had a lot of time to think about it, I mean, he was in prison after all.

"Dear diary," Dan looked over to see that Arin sat down beside him on the bleachers without him realizing. "Nobody wants to play basketball with me,"

"Shut up," Dan rolled his eyes, taking on a more confident pose than he just was in, with his arms crossed over his chest. There was a minute of silence and Dan realized Arin was waiting for a guard to walk off.

"What's your plan?" Arin asked and Dan realized that maybe he wouldn't have to take Arin with him if he was dumb enough to trust him already. But, then again, Dan wasn't sure how much longer he could handle Arin's fart jokes. And what if Arin actually got attached to him? Dan would have to play hard to get.

And by hard to get, he means ignoring Arin completely.

"Look, I know you have your reasons for getting out of here, but so do I. Neither of us can do it alone, and you know it."

"No, I have no reason to leave. I love prison!" Dan stood up to leave, sarcasm dripping off his words.

"Look, I'm just trying to make you understand," Arin had a different tone of voice, actually making Dan turn around. He didn't sound immature, didn't sound like he was making any jokes. He was sincere. "We can work together. I know you're planning on ditching me - I'm not a complete idiot - but at least give me a chance?" Arin's voice was getting louder, but he calmed himself down before he exploded.

"I can handle it myself," Dan spoke slowly like talking to a little kid.

"What about Mark, then?"

Dan looked at Arin with shock on his face. He knew he should be threatening or yelling at Arin, anything to help hide his backstory with Mark, but he couldn't find it in himself to yell at him, for whatever reason. "I don't know what you're talking about,"

"Mark Fischbach."

"How do you know about him?"

Arin stood up and walked towards Danny. "Let's put it this way. We have something in common: we both want him dead,"

Dan sighed and ran his hands through his hair.

"Mark killed someone very close to me, and I know he did the same with you. With or without you, I don't care. I'm getting revenge." Arin was motionless, waiting for a response from Danny.

Dan looked at him and walked off without another word.


	2. Modern Day Goof Troop

Chapter two

 

Arin was the most annoying man Danny had ever seen.

But for some reason, that was his charm.

It seemed like everything was a joke to him, like he was walking sarcastic response machine. Dan had no idea how he could be that optimistic in prison out of all places, but he wasn't one to step in.

Today Dan had to grab the chisel he'd left before. Pretty easy task, right? Just reach through the window he dropped it at. Until he realized that he wouldn't be able to grab it without looking suspicious. That means his only other option is to grab it from the outside.

It was a good thing his job was to tar the roof. The only problem was that it was with Arin.

"So, what are we doing?" Arin asked, walking beside Dan as they entered the roof.

"Chisel," Dan explained simply, nodding his head in the direction where he dropped the item before. "But there's a guard. Just waste some time until he's busy. Talk to people or something,"

What Dan wasn't expecting was for Arin to actually start talking to people. He nearly got decked a few times by some irritated inmates, but at least Dan was left alone to spark a conversation with a nicer looking guy. I mean, who would actually tar the roof, right?

"Oh, the tar!" Dan glanced over to see Arin purposefully walk into the tar for the sixth time at least. "Hey, do you mind when I step in the tar?"

By this point Dan could see everyone get agitated by Arin's happy attitude mixed with the summer heat, so Dan butted in.

"Arin, can you come help me with this part? It'll work faster with you!" Dan yelled, picking up an unused mop and bucket, pretending to sweat and be tired. Arin rolled his eyes and walked back, grabbing a mop next to Dan.

"Wow, you sure did a lot on this roof, Daniel," Arin joked, faking his work as well.

"The guard isn't leaving from that spot. We'll need to distract him," Dan pointed at the guard sitting in the shade right beside where they need to go.

"Come on, man! Loosen up a bit. Make some jokes," Arin nudged Dan's shoulder playfully. Dan stared at Arin with a look of total boredom, watching as Arin pretended to accidentally step in the tar again. Dan slowly put his mop down and did the same, yelling "Fuck! There's tar here!"

"You happy?"

"It's a start," Arin smiled.

"Anyway, you - uhh, go drop some punchies," Dan stuttered and was left with that sentence. Now it was Arin's turn to look at Dan with a raised eyebrow.

"Drop some punchies? Really?"

"Dan looked away. "Whatever, dude. Just go."

"I don't know how to start a fight! Plus, won't I be thrown in solitary?" Arin yell-whispered, waving his hands around.

"Well, do you have any better ideas?"

Arin looked around suspiciously. "Actually..." He grabbed his mop, holding it at the top and stepping on it at the bottom, causing it to break in half. He nodded and Dan, telling him to follow. They walked up to the guard blocking their way.

"Hey, guard? My mop broke," Arin pointed at the other side of the roof. The guard sighed and stood up. He walked into the room behind him, mumbling something about idiotic inmates.

"Perfect. Lets go," Danny spoke quietly. Arin went to the wall and sat down, motioning for Dan to climb on him. As Dan climbed on Arin's shoulders he made a remark about getting close to 'the junction,'. Arin was about to climb up when the guard walked back in.

"Hey? What are you doing?" The guard barked. Dan held his breath when he heard that and hoped Arin wouldn't make a stupid mistake. He continued walking on the roof, looking for where he was supposed to go.

"Just sitting here. Why?" Arin asked.

"I got you a new broom, get back to work," The guard seemed extremely uninterested in what Arin had to say.

"Oh, sweet! A new broom!" Arin took the broom from the guards hands. "I love the smell of new broom!" He quickly walked away from the guard, hoping to catch a look at Danny. Once they caught eye contact Dan lifted his hand, showing the chisel before he put it in his back pocket. Arin smiled but as he looked away he saw the guard that patrolled the roof with the inmates. Arin had to think fast.

"So, you new around here?"

Dan creeped around, trying to find a way down. Out of the corner of his eye he saw a roof panel leading into the deserted shed. He attempted to climb in slowly but instead fell over when he landed, barely catching himself before he knocked into the boxes behind him. He went up to the door to open it and swore when he realized it was locked.

"Come on, man. Of course it's locked," Dan groaned to himself. He tried to listen through the door for any sign of Arin going to help him but instead heard him talking to another guy - Fred. Dan was about to knock on the door when he heard Arin's not so quiet whisper from the other side.

"Hey, I'll save you, dude," Dan could hear Arins smirk from the other side. He heard him slide his broom in and after a beat of silence he broke the lock.

"Yeah!" Dan cheered, high-fiving Arin with the hand not opening the door.

"Look at us, we're two peas in a pod!" Arin laughed. They both looked around for any guards noticing them. Once they found the coast clear, Arin leaned over and whispered, "Just give the chisel to Fred. He's chill."

Dan went over and handed the chisel to a guy near the door he came out of, who took it willingly. Dan then walked over to Arin, where he was trying to act normal, finger gunning a guard when he looked over. "Was that Fred?" Dan asked, pointing at the man he just gave the tool to.

Arin scoffed. "I hope so,"

 

"We work together, we solve puzzles... we're like the modern day goof troop!" Dan was still somewhat regretting talking to Arin. He hadn't shut up since, always blabbing about weird things he saw on TV, trying to sing duets or some other annoying shit.

"Yeah, it's like the goof troop," Dan responded sarcastically.

"No, I mean, like how we work together,"

"Oh," Dan said like it made more sense. "Yeah, sure," Dan was going to continue but saw Fred walk up with a cart.

"Hey, Danny. I got something special for you to read. I hope you like it," Fred winked and continued on, Dan barely being able to say a quick 'thank you'. He made sure the chisel was in the book and walked up to the corner of his cell, where his and Arin's meet, and knocked on it.

"Keep a lookout," Dan whispered. "Knock twice when somebody's coming, three times in an emergency," With that he went over to the toilet, which he already tested the night before to see if it was connected to the floor, and slowly pulled it out from the wall.

He just pulled the toilet out when he heard two knocks, quickly followed by three knocks. He barely got the toilet put back in time before the guard flashed the light on his cell. This repeated a few times before there was a long break with no guards. Dan had time to start chiseling the wall.

"Wow, you're really chiseling hard, huh?" Arin whispered, snickering.

"Oh, god. I'm chiseling so hard, dude!" Dan replied. "Escaping from prison is so boring!"

"Ugh," Arin groaned. "It's so much work. All that planning, and chiseling," Arin tried to hold giggles back as he said it.

"I can't believe people actually do this successfully,"

It was only a matter of time before Dan finished his part. He watched the guard walk away and knocked on the wall once, signaling for Arin to grab the tool. The exchange was smooth and they switched spots; Danny looked and knocked while Arin chiseled.

Arin, being Arin made the guard suspicious of his pacing and humming, so it was tough for Arin to finish his part.

"Wow, books! I love books. Book, book, book, book - alright lets do this,"

"Dude, if we get caught -"

"Stop being such a worry wart, Daniel,"

Finally, after several visits from the guard, a lot of angry 'shut up, Arin' whispering and many close calls later, Arin finished.

"Hey, Danny. My toilet doesn't work anymore!" Arin whisper yelled with fake worry.

"Did you do it?" Dan whispered back. He got a hum of approval from his friend and nodded even though nobody could see him.

"Good, lets wait for the lights to go out,"

"Lets"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I suck at ending off chapters. ""Lets,"?" What type of ending is that?  
> Anyway, thanks for reading! Feel free to comment anything. I am open for criticism.


	3. Stop Talking About The Shawshank Redemption!

"Lights out!" The guard yelled from the end of the hallway. Just on time all the lights flickered out, leaving the place in darkness.

"Goodnight, moon," Dan sang. "Goodnight, stars," He heard Arin giggle from the other room. Dan walked up and kicked the wall a bit. "We gonna go now?"

"Yeah. Hey, why didn't we work now instead of when the guards were walking around?"

Dan paused. Why didn't they do that? "I don't know. It'll make a lot of noise,"

"Yeah, I guess," Dan heard Arin move the toilet out of the way and did the same with his. They both crawled through the broken wall and were welcomed with an open area. Dan stumbled slightly and his hand nearly fell off the wood ground but he caught himself in time. He looked at Arin and smiled.

"Oh shit. We did it," Dan spoke to himself and Arin. Arin snickered.

"We're two peas in a pod!" They started to crawl along the floor, both of them wincing at the smell. It was then that it clicked with Dan that he was, well, in a sewer. I mean, that's why it's connected to the toilet and all. "This isn't like crawling through shit like the Shawshank redemption!" Arin faked enthusiasm.

"Stop talking about the Shawshank Redemption," Dan said, but it had no bite to it. That was another thing Arin wouldn't shut up about. Dan stood up and started to climb up the ladder. If he was honest, he had no idea where he was going. There was a fan to his right and a hallway to his left, so his choices were limited, but still.

"I mean, I thought movies were making everything seem like it was all okay and fine, but that wasn't really bad," Arin continued, climbing the ladder after the other male. "Have you ever seen the Shawshank Redemption?"

"Stop talking about the Shawshank Redemption!" Dan spoke quickly, causing Arin to crack up. After a minute of looking around Dan found himself stuck, with no idea of where to go next. When he looked over Arin was staring at him with an expecting look, his arms crossed over his chest. "Man, nobody ever told me escaping from prison would be so hard!" Arin chuckled and Dan caught sight of a loose pipe on the wall. He nodded at Arin and they both went up to it. "Come help me, dude," Dan muttered, signaling for Arin to help pull off the pipe. It made a loud creaking noise as it slowly bent until it broke off.

"Nobody heard that, right?" Arin asked after a few moments of silence. "Imagine it just creaks like rrreeeeeeee - two men are escaping prison - reeeeee!" Arin screeched in a high-pitched voice and Dan chocked back laughter, knowing they had to be quiet. He was somewhat successful in being quiet until he looked at Arin, and they both burst out laughing again.

Dan went looking for the large fan but his laughter caused him to lose track of where he was, and he ended up in a dead end. Well, the one of three dead ends in the place. He looked up for Arin but Arin was already walking away and going to the correct fan. Dan tried to follow him but Arin was ten steps ahead and turned around to glare at Danny when he had to wait for him.

"I'm coming," Dan sighed. "This pipe is... moderately heavy," Dan stated, even though it wasn't. Arin just rolled his eyes.

Dan looked from Arin to the pipe in his hands and to the fan. Without any thought he jammed the pipe in the fan, nearly letting go. "Oh shit, dude. Go through," Dan groaned as the fan came to a stop, grinding against the metal pipe. Arin looked at the fan with uncertainty and eyed Dan's muscles... or, well, lack of them. "Hurry up. I can't hold this forever,"

With that, Arin went through barely getting past before Dan's grip slipped. The pipe was suddenly being pulled by the fan and Dan jumped back, covering his face with his hands. The fan, though, was spinning slowly and the pipe dropped out by Dan's feet. Arin scoffed at him.

"Go find uhh, a fan power switch or something, I don't know," Dan stuttered, picking the pipe up again hesitantly. Arin nodded and walked away. "See ya'" the younger man called as he looked for something. Dan stood there and waited, getting impatient by the second until the fan slowed down to a stop.

"You're safe, go through," Arin called. Dan threw the pipe through and crawled between the blades. Just as he was halfway through he heard Arin say "Hey, wouldn't it be funny if I plugged this back in while you were walking through?"

"Yeah, super funny,"

"Hilarious,"

"Okay, good,"

"I'm gonna do it," Dan flinched and tried to crawl through faster. He knew Arin was joking but for fucks sakes he met this guy a couple days ago. He wasn't going to risk it.

"Yeah, uh, don't please,"

"Are you through?"

Dan stood up, dusting off his pants. "Yeah," He looked around and found Arin walking towards him.

"There's a panel we need to do something with," Arin nodded at the panel with a handle on it. He walked up and grabbed it, waiting for his peer. "One... two... three," On the count of three they both pulled, the door coming undone to reveal a hole going down so far they couldn't see the bottom. Well, that was due to the low lighting. For all they knew it could be going down five feet. Or fifty.

"Wow... it's a door," Arin whispered. Dan chuckled and kneeled, looking for a ladder.

"It's a long way down," Dan stated the obvious. He looked up at Arin.

"Yeah for you!" Arin made a distant screaming effect and a splatter sound. They laughed and fell into silence. "We're gonna need something to get down with," Arin muttered.

"I have a pipe,"

"Not going to help, I'm afraid," they both stared at the drop for a good few seconds before Arin turned around. "Well, let's just go back to our cells, then. I'm tired," Dan stood up as well and shook his head, noticing a vent close to the ground.

"Hey, man. Look at this," Dam walked over to the vent and looked through it, squinting to see. He looked up at Arin who was walking towards him. "What do you think it is?" Dan asked with wonder in his voice and an exaggerated smile.

"It's just another cell," Arin scoffed, joking. "We're just gonna break back in," He looked down at the room and squinted as well. It seemed like... a laundry room. "We just need to get into this room. We can get some sheets and use them, right?" Arin looked at Dan, who had a far away expression on his face. His eyes snapped up after a second.

"Huh? What did you say?"

"I don't know, dude," Arin laughed.

"Look," Dan waved his hand dismissively. "We'll get in here - somehow, because they don't allow inmates - and get some sheets. How about that?"

"Alright, continue,"

"One of us can hide in the laundry cart. The guard will 'inspect it', and we'll get through," Dan made air quotation marks around the 'inspect it'. "They barely look inside the cart, it will be fine,"

Arin looked at him. "That's the stupidest idea -"

"Shut up, lets go back to our cell," Dan stood up, pulling Arin along with him.

"I don't understand - what was the point of all this?" Arin walked begrudgingly with Dan, waving his hand around the room.

"Well I'm sorry I don't have the whole sewer system memorized! We'll come back tomorrow," Danny was starting to get irritable from being tired, and he knew Arin was losing his patience as well.

"Ugh. Fine," Arin whined.

It was going to be a long night.

 

"So what are we doing here?" Arin asked, looking around like he had no idea how he even got there.

Danny rolled his eyes. "We're gonna get into the backroom. Just go around and talk to people, become familiar with the place. Whatever," Dan waved a hand and looked around, leaving Arin on his own. He watched as Arin picked up sheets and carried them around, attempting to start conversation with others as he went. Dan stood near the door to the backroom, which was guarded. After a couple minutes Danny got bored and decided to talk to others. It was hard and he was only paying half attention, trying to listen to Arin's conversation as well. He had no idea why he was so set on watching Arin so intensely. He chalked it up to being paranoid that the other man would do something wrong.

Dan was now on the lookout for a cart, after getting yelled at for nearly stealing someone else's. He listened to Arin talk to a guy with what seemed like OCD. Dan was about to give up looking when Arin sneaked up behind him, tapping his arm to get his attention. "A dude said the carts are in the other room," Arin pointed in the general direction and Danny nodded. "Let's get it,"

Dan was expecting a room with a bunch of carts in it, but he was wrong. Instead, there was an inmate with a check list standing in front of said room with carts in it. Dan sighed and walked up to him.

"Hey, can I get a cart?"

"Yeah. What's your number?" Dan could feel Arins presence behind him but was now focused on coming up with a lie. His number wasn't on the list, and he knew it.

"Why do you need that?" Dan asked, pushing his hair behind his ear.

"Rules and regulations, nothing I can do about it,"

"It's just a cart, man," Dan tried to reason.

"Name and number," the man repeated. Danny had two choices, continue to convince him or just leave. Maybe he could lie and say somebody else's number, or maybe they could try something else.

"Are you sure it's not on the list?" Dan asked, an idea sparking in his head. It was something he would never do, but...

"What's your name?"

"Look for Danny Y. Sexbang," Dan said with sarcasm dripping off his words. The man looked up with a raised eyebrow and Dan punched him square in the face. He heard Arin gasp and say 'ohh,' but he ignored him, hitting the man again to knock him out cold. he grabbed the guy by his shoulders and threw him in a closet nearby, hoping no guard saw. When he turned around Arin was giggling like mad.

"Come on, man," Dan couldn't help but smile as he went up to one of the carts and climbed in it. "Put some sheets on me, dude," Dan giggled, poking his head out of the cart.

"Yeah, sheets. Right," Dan heard Arin mumble to himself from outside of the cart. Soon he was being covered by a couple old sheets, the smell hitting his nose almost instantly.

"Dude, this smells like shit," Dan spoke.

"Well, I don't care,"

"But it smells like, really bad, dude."

"I'll suffocate you," Arin warned. "We're going out in the public. Be quiet."

Dan stayed quiet as Arin covered him with sheets. Six more towels later and they were going. Dan hid himself under everything as Arin walked up to the guards. Just like Dan expected, the guard barely took a look at the items in the cart and just let it through. Then Dan was being taken away by the guard and _oh shit,_ he forgot to tell Arin that. He held his breath and hoped that Arin would know what to do.

On the other side, Arin stood there. He wasn't expecting Dan to be taken away, and now he didn't know the next step. It took a minute of standing there awkwardly to come to the conclusion that he had to distract the guard sitting beside the door, but how? Arin thought about starting a fight, but last thing he wanted was to be locked up in solitary. So that left breaking the machines as his only option. He walked up to a machine just out of view from the guard and looked around for something to break it with. A metal barrel caught his eye. Perfect. He threw it in with ease and hoped it wasn't important in any way. He looked around carefully before pushing the on button. The machine broke, making a scraping sound as sparks flew out of it.

"The machines broken again?" The guard called out from his seat. He stood up and started to walk towards it. Arin quickly walked off and made a beeline for the door to the room before the guard came back. It was enough time that Dan should have been there.

Arin went to walk through, looking in the window to try to see Danny. He was welcomed with a locked door. Of course. Danny was looking the other way, messing with the sheets.

"Dan!" Arin yell-whispered, knocking on the glass. Dan looked up with fear for a second, quickly turning to relief when he saw it was Arin. Arin looked around nervously, hoping the guard wouldn't see him. Dan unlocked the door from the inside and Arin slid in, closing it behind him.

"Good job, man," Dan whispered, patting Arin on the back. "I think we can climb this thing with- Arin?" Dan watched as Arin picked up an armful of sheets.

"I'm taking the sheets," Arin said matter-of-factly. Dan sighed.

"Dude, come here and climb on me. We just need to put the sheets in the vent."

"Why are we putting them in the vent? That's useless,"

"It's the vent we were looking through last night, Ar," Dan stared at Arin with amusement. Realization hit Arin's face and he smiled.

"Alright. So I'll climb up and you hand me the sheets," Arin didn't wait for a response, instead he dropped the towels and used Dan as a climbing post to get on top of the shelf. Dan had to walk a few steps to get the sheets and of course, Arin started singing.

"In the moonlight I see my love," When Dan turned around Arin had one hand out at Dan in an over dramatic pose.

"Come on, man," Dan threw the sheet at Arins face and he barely caught it.

Rinse and repeat a few more times and they were done. Arin climbed down and they started to walk out together, happy the guard at the door was still busy.

"Good sheet handing, man," Arin joked. "We're like two peas in a pod - I love that,"

"I love you," Dan spoke without thinking. He meant it as a joke but had a feeling he overstepped his boundaries.

"Yeah - what?" Arin looked over.

"I love juice," Dan quickly fixed, looking at his partner. Arin was giggling again and it made Danny relax a bit.

"Yeah, me too," Arin laughed. "I didn't know we had so much in common," By then they were both giggling as they walked through the laundry room.

Tonight would be another night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am terrible at ending chapters o o p s -  
> As of when I'm posting this I am in the process of writing chapter five. I'm trying to keep ahead by at least three chapters... you can see how well that's going.  
> ANYWAY, thanks for putting up with my bad writing skills to make it to chapter three. Comments and Kudos' are always appreciated!


	4. God, this place is like a jail!

"That's my biggest fan," Dan said, pointing at the fan behind them. They were back in the vent area and Dan was watching Arin tie the sheets together and tie that to a pipe near the long drop. There was no response from Arin. "Did - did you get it, Arin? That it's my biggest fan?"

Arin stood up, looking at his work. "Yeah, I got it," Arin said in a bored voice. "Anyway, I did it." He pointed at the sheet rope hanging down.

"Will it work?" Dan asked. His fear of heights didn't rear its ugly head until just then, when he realized that he would need to climb down. If he could sweat, he would.

"I made sure to tie it really loose so it'll tighten when we go on it!" Arin spoke. He looked over at Dan who let out a humorless chuckle and was staring at the drop. "Not a fan of heights?" Arin asked.

"Nah, not really," Danny muttered. He sat down with his legs dangling off the edge, mentally preparing himself for the climb.

"Go ahead, dude. You can do it," Arin smiled, standing by the wall. "Just don't die." With that, Danny grabbed on to the white cloth and jumped off, chocking back a yelp of surprise as his grip tightened to stop himself from falling. Slowly but surely he made his way down the rope, keeping his breathing even.

"I will go down at the same time as you, even though it's probably not a good idea," Arin sang just as Dan let go of the rope, his feet touching the ground. He let out a breath he didn't know he was holding and looked up at his companion.

"No, it's good to put more stress on the rope," Dan said in a sarcastic tone. "The only thing keeping us alive,"

"Is it?" Arin asked as he reached the bottom, stepping down.

"Oh, yeah. Totally,"

"Nice,"

Dan shook his head and looked at a vent. "What's that?" He asked, walking towards it. Arin saw it and started speed-walking towards it, looking over at Danny.

"I don't know, let me look at it -" He got cut off when Dan leaned down to look through it before Arin could get there. It was only a few feet from where they were still standing, but the brisk walk was very dramatic. "What the fuck, dude?" Arin yelled in fake anger. "Can you believe this? This is -"

"Guards," Dan whispered simply. Arin got quiet quick and watched as Dan quickly jumped up when a guard walked past. He waited for him to pass before whispering, "Ohh... I'm just a wall,"

Arin huffed and walked up to another grate, looking through it as Dan walked up to a large metal trap door. "Here, help me open this," Arin complied, walking over and picking up the door and grunting as they placed it to one side.

"Do we even know where we're going?" Arin asked, wiping his hand off on his shirt.

"No, no.. We're just going, man," Dan answered honestly. "We're trying to fucking escape prison, what do you think?" Dan kneeled down and looked at guess what? Another really deep hole. "Are you ready to go down there?" He asked, looking up at Arin.

"Really? We don't have a light, dude," Arin reasoned.

Danny suddenly got a burst of confidence. He could barely make out water - hopefully. "Fuck it. I'll go first," He jumped down, this time actually yelling as he fell, instantly regretting it. He luckily was correct in his assumption that it was water and stumbled when he touched the ground, nearly falling on his ass.

"You okay?" Arin called, squinting to see Dan's figure in the dark.

"It's filled with broken glass and crabs!" Danny yelled as he looked around him. Arin was right, it was pitch black. "Oh! I think it's a shark. Ahh!" Dan yelled comically.

Arin laughed and stood up. "I'll find a flashlight, I guess,"

"It's nibbling on my leg!" Danny called as Arin walked off, looking at the shelves for a light source. He found one and grabbed it, calling out "I found one!" followed by "Dan, it's out of batteries!"

He heard Dan's echoed giggles as he looked for batteries. "So, you can't see shit, huh?" Arin asked.

"Well, actually, all I can see is shit," Dan corrected, using his sense of smell to assume the water was sewer water. "There is a river of shit,"

Dan jumped around when he heard a splash behind him and saw Arin with a working flashlight, somehow on a ledge not where Danny fell. "Eww, dude. It's poopy water," Dan watched as the disgust on Arins face turned to confusion when he spotted Dan in the water below him.

"How did you get up there?" Dan asked, waving his hand.

"I slid to the left, I think,"

"What? It was all dark!"

"That's why we needed a light, Daniel," Arin spoke slowly.

"Smartass,"

"It's concerning how you think lighting a dark area is smart," Arin pointed the light at Dan's face, causing him to look away. Arin then flashed the light at a valve behind Dan. "Hey, go check out the valve," Dan turned around and scanned the room for a moment before walking up to said valve. "It's a good valve, huh?"

"Sorry, I'm being slowed down by the feces I'm covered in," Dan muttered as he grabbed on with both hands, tugging the valve left. To their surprise the water started draining.

"Hey, water's draining. Try to see if you can find a way to meet with me," Arin called. He made sure to keep the light on Danny the whole time. "Hey, does that sound like two inmates draining the water downstairs?" Arin asked in his fake guard voice. Dan snickered.

"This water smells like shit," Danny muttered sourly.

"More like that shit vaguely resembles water," Arin corrected.

"Fuck you,"

"Language!" Arin yell - whispered. "Geez, I guess I know what they put you in here for," Arin spoke sarcastically. "A bad attitude,"

Dan rolled his eyes and went up to another water valve, waiting for Arin to shine the light on him before turning it. It seemed to stop the water flow altogether.

"Oh!" Arin exclaimed. He looked around with his flashlight and stopped by a ramp. "You're supposed to go up the ramp where the water stopped flowing,"

Danny looked around, the light blinding him momentarily. "Wait - where -" He walked passed where he was supposed to go, squinting at the light.

"No - you just passed it,"

"Here?"

"To the left, you almost got it,"

"Oh, right here?"

"Yeah, yeah,"

"Sorry, I got turned around a little," Danny smiled as he walked up the ramp, using the wall as support.

"Yeah, I noticed," Arin grumbled, making Dan snicker. Dan walked around and found himself face to face with Arin, nothing but a metal gate between them.

"Here, take the flashlight," Arin put his hand through the bars and handed Danny the flashlight. Dan took it and swung it around the place where he was walking, attempting to become familiar with the layout. He started to walk away as he found some pipes he could sneak behind. "You're going to give that back, right?" Arin asked, half joking.

"Oh, look! A way out!" Danny called behind him.

"Oh - wait, no! Wait!" Arin laughed, running a hand through his hair. Dan giggled as well as he squeezed behind the pipes.

Danny was somewhat surprised by the amount of trust they both had with each other. It was hard to tell, but Dan could see Arin wasn't all dumb and loud. Deep down he was smart and thoughtful. It scared Danny by how he could never read the others face, it was like a mask. Suddenly, Dan's hand slipped and a pipe came loose, letting out what looked like water. He heard Arin ask what happened from behind him. "Uhh, Arin? I either did something good or bad," Dan stated slowly.

"Oh no! It's the candy valve! It's releasing candy into the air!" Arin yelled. He made a loud lip smacking noise. "Strawberry!" Danny laughed, his face crinkling up as he tried to find his way around. He heard Arin move as well and they came together at yet another metal gate, this time fastened by a lock. They both tried to unlock it and had no luck. That was when Dan found a rock laying in the corner. He picked it up and him an Arin caught gazes, Dan with a mischievous smile on his face. He held the rock over his head and smashed it down on the metal lock, accidentally letting go when the lock didn't break. He went stumbling back and so did the rock. Nothing changed except for a dent on the metal. When he looked up, Arin was staring at him with one eyebrow raised.

"Easier said than done..." Danny muttered, picking up the rock and trying again. On his third try he was successful, the lock falling off. He dropped the rock and opened the door, the two reunited again. He kept the flashlight and led Arin to another door that was guess what? Locked again.

"Help me break this down again, Ar," Danny attempted to kick it but it failed as expected.

"How? Do I just hit my head -" Arin stopped when he realized Danny wanted him to ram his shoulder into it. They both did it at the same time, causing the doors to open and both of them to fall over.

Danny hissed through his teeth, rubbing his shoulder lightly.

"You okay, man?" Arin sounded genuinely worried but then a certain tone went over his voice, "Need a rub down? Take off your shirt, and while you're at it, take off your pants,"

"Oh my god, dude," Dan shook his head. They continued their walk down the hallways, looking around until Dan ended up underneath a vent. Looking up he saw a guard and quickly turned off his light.

"Oh, shit. The flashlight -" Arin started, but got cut off.

"Guard," Dan pointed up. They both held their breath until the footsteps became so far away they couldn't hear them. The two men continued to walk, pulling down a thin metal plane on their way. When they pulled that down they were welcomed by... a hole going up. Really far up.

"Shit, it's too high up," Danny stated the obvious.

"What now?" Arin whispered, feeling the walls to see if they were somehow climbable. Danny then suddenly got an idea. He turned around and looked at Arin with a glint in his eyes.

"Are we gonna brace against each others backs and climb up that way?" Dan asked, voice slightly hopeful.

"Oh my god, that's so..." Arin trailed off.

"Such a good idea, right? Here, give me your arm,"

"This is crazy," Arin got in position but still complained.

"I love this shit, man. I used to do it all the time," Okay, so maybe Danny was lying when he said he did it before but... there was a first to everything, right?

And now they were climbing up a wall, back-to-back, and Danny would be lying (Again) If he said he wasn't even a little scared.

"Friendship," Danny whispered.

"Don't make me laugh, dude," Dan could feel Arin's back move as he suppressed giggles.

They finally got to the top and sat down with a whole lot of grunting. Dan did everything except look down, instead looking at the vent above.

"Wow, what a couple of cards we are, huh?" Arin whispered.

"What - never mind," Danny rubbed a hand on his face. He was tired. This whole 'escaping prison' was taking a lot out of him. "For fucks sakes," He pointed at the vent, which was bolted safely. "We're gonna need a wrench,"

"God, this is like a jail!"

"The only place we can get a wrench from is the workshop," Dan ignored Arin's joke because he was honestly too tired from everything before. They stared at each other for a few moments.

"We gonna go back down?" Arin asked, looking down at the drop.

"It's the same going up, right?" Danny nodded. "We'll come back tomorrow night,"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The fact that the end song to A Way Out is called 'Farewell' is making me cry.  
> I still haven't decided if this will have a sad ending or not... I have an idea for both.  
> Thank you for reading! Comments and Kudos' are always appreciated! Have a great day


	5. It Means We're Escaping From Prison! (Prison... prison)

"I could do this all day," Arin smiled, drawing out the 'all'. They were in the workshop and Arin was sanding wood at a table. Danny was fiddling with a screw driver, looking around for any wrenches. "I'm having fun," Arin breathed. Dan looked over and watched as Arin sanded uselessly, the strokes too light to make a difference. Arin looked up with pure happiness in his face. "You know what? This might be the life for me. I'm gonna stay!"

Danny rolled his eyes. "Don't talk that loud," He muttered, trying to keep the smile off his face. He walked around aimlessly for a few seconds before noticing how a guard was eyeing him suspiciously. Dan looked for the nearest machine and turned it on, the machine roaring to life. "Wow, this spins fast," He commented.

"Wow," Arin said from behind him. Danny jumped but went back to his work, watching as Arin went to a board and started to hammer nails, yelling 'Bang!' every time he hit it. He soon started hammering in the tune of the duck dance, making a few others glare at him.

Once Arin got bored of that he walked up to a bench that had a wrench on it. He went to grab it but the man there yelled at him about how he was using it. When the prisoner went back to the work Arin glared at him for a few seconds before walking around, signaling to Dan as he started talking to him. He tried to come up with interesting small talk but quickly ran out of things to say, ending just in time for Dan to pocket the wrench. Arin started to fiddle around with a random machine when he heard the guard talk.

"Hey? You want to leave? Go through the metal detector," When Arin looked over he saw Danny talking to the guard, his wrench in hand.

"No, no, no. I'm - I'm okay," Danny stuttered. The guard saw the wrench In Dan's hand and pointed at it.

"Hey, what is that for?"

Arin was scared that Danny would blow it, but thankfully he kept his cool. "I'm still working here, man. I was just taking it to over there," Danny pointed somewhere in the general direction of not where he was standing and the guard nodded, allowing Dan to continue.

From there the two continued to talk to other people in the workshop, learning about the in's and out's. It was a good fifteen minutes later when Dan was focused on hammering that he heard Arin from the table behind him.

"Hey, if I look at this just right it looks like I'm sawing into your butt," Dan turned around to glare at Arin. "Hehe, nice,"

A bit of talking and a lot more fumbling around and the duo somehow found themselves face to face with nothing but a wall and a vent between them.

"Oh! Wow. Did we do something good?" Arin asked, sitting down next to the vent.

"Maybe," Dan looked around and remembered that he had a wrench in his back pocket. "Here, take this," he slid the wrench through the vent and stood up from his kneeling position as to not look suspicious. He then walked though the metal detector and met Arin on the other side. He walked ten steps behind Arin, following him through the doors and up some stairs. Arin walked into the room leading to their cells and quickly turned around and walked out of it with wide eyes.

"Pat down," He explained. They both looked at each other for a second and Arin looked around, walking up to a window. "We need to pass the wrench through again," He explained. Dan hummed and made his way through the pat down without any difficulty.

"Here, come and grab it," Arin whispered, putting his arm through the bared window. Dan walked up and reached for the wrench, just as he grabbed it Arin whispered "No, not my penis!" Dan chuckled but stopped himself when he saw the guard look at him, sticking the wrench back in his back pocket. Arin walked through the pat down and met up with Dan. He nudged his shoulder and whispered "Don't mind us, just two wrench-less guys,"

"With perfectly functioning cell toilets," Dan added, walking through the hallways to yet another door separating them from their cells. They both stopped walking when they saw two guards blocking the way. They looked at each other and then the guards. Danny took a step forward and opened his mouth like he was going to say something, but he really had no idea what to say. Finally, Arin pushed Dan aside and walked up to the guards, saying "Hey, there's something going on. You guys need to check it out." He led them both to the corner and Dan walked through, barely hearing Arin say "Yeah, uhh - someone's going to get hit,".

Dan walked down the cell hallways until he found his cell. He was about to put the wrench behind the toilet when a guard and another man walked in, yelling "Shakedown! Up against the bars, inmate!" followed by Arin hissing "Oh, shit!" as he walked by. Dan froze, quickly hiding the wrench in his pocket but not knowing what to do next. It wasn't until the guard yelled "Did you hear me? Up against the bars!" when Dan moved, well, up against the bars.

"Yeah, my toilet is awesome!" He heard Arin mutter and Dan realized that he was right beside Arin's cell. A thought came into his head and he took the wrench out, passing it to Arin who had the same idea. "Nice," Arin hissed and Dan could hear the smile in his voice.

Dan stayed silent and watched the guard mess up his cell, but Arin didn't. "Just hanging here with my friend Danny, helping my friend, helping my friend," He improvised a song and Dan had to control his laughter. "When we get out he's probably going to leave me... but that's okay, I cherish the time we spent together!"

"Over here, inmate," The guard spoke to Dan. Danny walked into the middle of the cell where he was given another pat down and sent to stand in the corner once again. "What do you think, I have a wrench or something?" Arin whispered once Dan stood back. He watched the guard talk to the man in the suit and walked off to go check on Arin's cell. It wasn't until the guard walked out of Dan's room to look at something when Arin whispered "What do I do with the wrench?"

"Stash it behind the toilet!" Dan whispered back. He listened to Arin hide it just in time for the guard to go to his cell. Dan stood there by the bars in case Arin needed him, but everything went smoothly and the guard left.

Danny made a flushing sound once he knew the guard left.

"Wow, this working toilet sure is working!" Arin exclaimed probably a bit too loudly for his own good, followed by laughter by both Dan and Arin.

There was a few minutes of silence before Dan walked up and knocked on his wall to get Arin's attention. "Hey man, I know you were joking, but I... I won't ditch you once we leave, y'know?" Dan paused for a second. "Not until we find Mark,"

"That works," Arin answered, slightly delayed. "We're like two peas in a pod!"

 

 

Danny was sitting in the waiting room, rubbing his hands together nervously. He stood up when he saw Brian walk in looking slightly confused and lost.

"Hey, man. Good to see you," Danny smiled, hugging his friend once they got close enough.

"Good to see you too," Brian smiled in relief. He sat down with Danny at the table. "How's things holding up?"

"Pretty good, actually. Better than I expected," Dan responded to the small talk but wasn't really paying attention, instead looking to see if any guards were around. Once he saw that the coast was clear he leaned in, using a hand to cover his mouth. "I've got a plan to get out of here,"

"Good job, man. How can I help?" Brain whispered, leaning in as well.

"Wait eighteen years," Dan joked. "No, don't worry about it. I've got someone helping me out. His name's Arin,"

With that Brian leaned back slightly, one eyebrow raised. "Are you sure about that, man? I mean, we thought we could trust Mark and look at how that turned out," Brian reasoned.

"No man, he wants to find Mark just as much as I do," Dan said. "Don't worry about it, I'll be out soon." Brian shook his head but Dan dismissed it, leaning back in his chair as well. "So, how's the fans holding up?"

"It's been six months, man. I told them we're on hiatus but they just want their music," Brian said, now going back to speaking at a normal level as to not get the guards suspicious.

"Fuck..." Dan sighed. "I miss making music, dude. Have they figured it out yet?"

"Nope. Sometimes I shove pillows under a blanket and, like, take a picture and post it. I even play a snoring sound if I'm making a video," Brain grinned at his own joke and Danny huffed.

At the other side of the room, Arin was sitting at the table, waiting for his wife. "Hey, nobody's coming for you," A guard spoke, startling Arin.

"No, no. She probably just missed her bus. She'll be here,"

"We're not taking any more visitors. Do you want to make a phone call or go back to your cell?" The guard asked, pointing at the phones and then the door. Arin looked between the two and sighed.

"I'd like to make a phone call, please,"

The guard took Arin to the phones where he entered his wife's number. He waited one ring, two rings and finally she answered.

"Suzy! Why didn't you come?" Arin asked, relieved to hear her voice again.

"I'm at home expecting our baby. That's why," Suzy sighed.

"Come on, we talked about this. I'm going to be out soon, and once I finish this we'll be together and -"

"You're in prison, Arin. Just listen to yourself, this isn't you! Is this how you want your future child to remember you?" Suzy's voice raised - something you would never hear normally.

"We've got to get this Mark situation figured out, Suzy," Arin grit out, feeling anger simmer in his chest. "He killed Nate. He killed my brother. I need to do something -"

"You can't bring him back, Arin! You're just going to get yourself killed,"

Arin bit his tongue to stop from yelling and sighed again. "I - I need to go," He lied. "Love you," and with that, he hung up.

 

 

Arin was sitting at the table in the cafeteria, waiting for Leo to walk in. He always got let in ten minute early, making him feel almost alone without his partner in crime. He stood up once he saw Dan walk in, his nose crinkling up in disgust  as he could smell the cafeteria food. Arin walked up to him, his tray still in hand.

"You hear about the storm coming?" Dan asked, standing just centimeters away from Arin.

"What does that mean?" Arin asked, looking out of the window to see a few clouds in the sky.

"You really don't know...?"

"It kind of looks like some bad clouds are rolling in, but..." Arin pointed at the barred window.

"It means we're -" Dan cut himself off, realizing he was speaking too loud. "It's our window. We're going to leave," Dan barely whispered.

"It means we're going to escape prison! Prison...prison," Arin whispered, making the 'prison' echo. They both attempted to keep their laughter down to giggles, but they could sense people looking at them like they were crazy.

"Just, whatever, dude. Shut up," Dan patted Arin's shoulder and continued walking, still smiling to himself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not too proud of this chapter. I feel like parts don't connect properly, and the whole thing seems bland. Don't worry - it only gets worse from here!  
> I've been writing 1 - 2 chapters per weekend because I can't find time to do them over the school days. Once school is out, though... Who am I kidding, I'll still procrastinate.
> 
> Thank you for reading!


	6. The Warden's Office

"So... do you have a boyfriend or something?" Arin asked out of the blue, making Dan startle slightly. They were back-to-back, three-fourths of the way up the wall, and Danny was silently freaking out from the heights.

"What?" Dan asked, confusion evident in his voice. Where did Arin get _that_ idea?

"Not that there's anything wrong with that, man. I mean, whatever you're into. I'm totally open to the idea, I'm not judging you or anything -"

"Why would you think I have a boyfriend, though?" Dan cut him off, his voice uneven halfway through the sentence as they stepped out of line. The climb was slow and painful after a few minutes, and Dan could feel his muscles tire.

"You two talked during visiting hours. You know the older looking guy?"

Danny thought for a second before saying "Brian?"

"Yeah, is that his name?" Arin sounded genuinely interested, throwing Dan off track.

"Danny huffed. "We're not dating, dude. He's my friend, we're in a band together,"

"Really? What's the band name?" Arin asked. They were only a few steps away from the top, and Arin's back felt as if it was about to give out.

"Don't worry about it," Danny blew Arin's question off and untangled their arms, quickly reaching to grab the ledge. Arin did the same and they both got up, pausing to take a breath. They looked at each other, then suddenly Arin's eyes widened.

"Do you have the wrench?" Arin asked. Danny patted his pockets and pulled it out of one of them.

"Yep," He waved it before realizing that it was probably a bad idea. He kept it in his hand but put his hand in his lap gently.

"Don't fucking drop it, whatever you do," Arin warned, waving a finger. Dan rolled his eyes and started to unscrew the bolts, nearly dropping the wrench as he did it. He passed it to Arin who unscrewed his side. He put the wrench down and they pushed on the vent, pushing it out of the way so they could get through.

They both got out of the hole with a grunt and stood up. "God, I can't believe I'm out of this place soon," Dan smiled, looking up at Arin.

"Not over until the fat lady sings," Arin wiped his hands on his shirt and they continued to walk around and look for where to go next.

"Damn... it's a mens prison. Where are we going to find a fat lady?" Dan muttered, getting a giggle out of both of them. They continued to walk in silence until Arin came up to a trolley with boxes piled on it. He gasped loudly.

"Look! I'm a truck! Beep beep!" Arin all but yelled as he rolled the cart around, nearly running into Dan.

"Arin, pull yourself together," Dan whispered, but he had a smile on his face. Arin quickly found a yellow vent above them, probably just the right height to get to using the boxes, but as he was turning the top two boxes fell, causing both prisoners to yelp.

"Did you hear that? The storm's coming," Danny whispered after a few beats of silence.

"Stop speaking in metaphors, man! And fucking help me with these boxes - oh god," Arin grunted as he lifted one up and placed it back on the trolley, not needing Dan's help at all. Dan instead started to giggle.

"It means we're breaking out of Prison! Prison... prison..." Dan repeated, echoing the 'prison'. They both laughed, Arin almost dropping the box.

They got the trolley next to the yellow vent and climbed in it, Arin climbing in first, Dan following. Arin whispered 'look at me go, look at me go,' but Dan stayed quiet.

"I'm a little turtle!" Arin squealed as he got to the end of the passage.

"I'm a little snail," Dan laughed. He paused for a moment to let Arin get down before getting out of the passage himself. They looked around, but couldn't find anything to do. Arin thought he hit a dead end until he saw a small gap between two walls. He motioned Danny to follow him as they shimmied through, ducking down at the sight of two guards. Once they were both hidden behind boxes they started to crawl around, circling the two guards who were playing cards. They snuck past them and into the room beside it, their eyes searching until they found a door. A quick test revealed it was locked.

"Oh shit..."

"Damn," Dan tried the door again but no luck. "We need to bust this door down. On three -"

"Wait!" Arin yell-whispered. "Let's do it on time with the thunder," Just as he whispered that a large boom with a crack of lightning came down. Dan nodded.

"We'd see lightning first, though. Right?" Arin had no time to respond before there was thunder and lightning, nearly at the same time. They both rushed into the door shoulder first, the door letting in but not breaking. Arin nodded in encouragement and kept listening to the guards to see if they heard anything. Two more hits later and the door broke, both men falling and nearly tripping. It took Arin a few seconds to realize that they were outside, and by the time he got his baring's together Danny was by the stone railing.

"Look, you see that?" Dan pointed at a large tower in the distance, nearly all the way across the prison.

"Yep,"

"That's where we're going,"

"Alright," Arin was about to make a comment on the tower relating to the size of his dick but got cut off when he saw a guard patrolling the roof just above them. Dan must have seen him as well, because they both hid behind a metal case in the middle of the roof. Now that Arin was looking, they were surrounded by guards. There was one guarding the door they had to pass next. "We need to do something about those," Arin whispered, pointing at the guard on the upper roof and the guard by the door.

"You go up, I'll stay here," Dan whispered back. Arin nodded and made his way up the ladder. Dan waited for a minute, slowly getting impatient before hearing a very quiet strangling noise followed by Arin saying "Fuck yeah,"

Dan smiled, almost proud of Arin for doing that successfully. He followed in Arin's footsteps, climbing over the wall and knocking the guard near the door out in one punch.

"Fuck yeah, dude!" Arin laughed. Dan looked up to see him on the roof directly above him.

"Yeah, I rabbit punched him,"

"Rabbit punched him?"

"You better believe it, baby," Dan smiled and looked around, catching sight of what looked like an office. "The warden's office!" He realized, pointing so Arin could see.

"Yeah. Hey, this is the roof we just tarred," Arin looked down to where Dan was, making Dan look around at his surroundings. Now that he looked down, he could feel his hair get soaked by the rain and he hoped it didn't puff up into a huge jew-fro later. Just as Dan was deep in thought about his hair, he heard a splash sound followed by Arin cursing. When he turned around he saw Arin at the same level he was at. "Fuck - oh, shit. My ankles," He whined, rubbing his leg like it would help at all.

"You alright?" Dan asked, looking around for where to go next.

"No... Yeah," Arin sighed, realizing how dramatic he was being. They both started to look for any way to get to the warden's office. It was a few minutes later when Arin saw the same wall they climbed up when they were tarring the roof. He called Danny over.

"That's where you just came down from," Dan pointed out, looking around as he spoke.

"Yeah, but there's a ladder," Arin argued. With that, Danny agreed. They climbed on each other to get up, Dan muttering something about Arin being heavy, and they continued.

"Damn, the warden's office," Dan muttered, walking up to a window with a light shining through. Dan went up to it and without thinking, broke it with his elbow.

"Come on, dude. Was that necessary?" Arin whispered, watching as Dan climbed in through the window and doing the same himself.

"It hurt my arm. Very much," Dan said, not answering Arin's question. The warden's office was warm, warmer than outside. They looked around and made sure it was completely empty before taking more care to look at the things.

"Oh, look at us. A couple of cards. I'm the warden," Arin said in a funny voice, sitting and spinning in the wardens chair.

"Ar, do you think we'll get in trouble?" Danny asked, clasping his hands together in fake worry. "I can forge my parents signature if we get in trouble," Arin snickered and continued to look, taking out a book and reading the cover. Something about law. When he turned around Dan was spinning the globe on the table, stopping it at random points.

Suddenly, Dan stopped the globe and turned around. "What the fuck are we doing here, anyway?"

Arin shrugged in response, walking to the other room and knocking a pen off the table for no reason. He heard Dan disconnect the phone and he let out a bird stuck in a cage, watching it fly away.

"No, but really. This is completely useless," Dan pointed out, moving a painting so it was hanging slightly to the right. He went to leave, but paused when he saw a guard walk by. "Shit!" Dan hissed, closing the door just as quickly as he opened it. He heard Arin walk up behind him but ignored him, instead waiting for the guard to leave. Once he eventually did, Danny opened the door again - slowly this time - and exited, Arin following behind him.

They made their way down two flights of stairs before Danny paused. "Are we, like, trying to break into a lower level of the prison or something?"

"I don't know," Arin giggled. They continued down a hallway and ended up back where Dan first introduced himself to Arin, in the nurse beds. They snuck around the hallways together and saw two guards standing side by side, obviously not patrolling like they were supposed to. Their backs where to Arin and Dan.

Dan looked at Arin and back at the guards, asking if he wanted to knock them out together. Arin nodded and they snuck up, hitting the guards simultaneously. The guards fell to the ground and Arin held out his hand to high five Danny. Danny happily high-fived him back and they went out the window the guards were in front, now returning outside.

"Darn, now we're even farther away from the searchlight!" Arin whined, pointing at the huge searchlight. Dan scoffed and rolled his eyes, crouching behind a wall. The tower had a searchlight on it, and the light was swaying across the whole yard, proving it difficult to get across. They both waited for a few seconds until the light passed by and they ran down the stairs, hiding behind the next wall.

"You can't see me," Arin whispered, just a bit in front of Dan.

"Nothing here but me, the stairway," Dan joked. The searchlight left them and they started to get to the next wall.

"Chicka - chicka... what does a stairway sound like again?" Dan was going to respond but he stumbled over his own feet, causing him to get caught in the searchlight.

"Shit!" He cursed as he pretty much fell down behind the wall. He caught sight of Arin, who was a bit away. "Arin! Arin! We shouldn't be getting caught in the searchlight!" Dan called. Arin looked up quickly when he first heard his name but started to giggle when he listened to what Danny was saying. He wanted to make another joke, but they were so far away that he would have to yell, and he didn't feel like doing that, so instead he just continued.

He saw Danny get closer to where he was, close enough that they could talk comfortable once again. They seemed maybe halfway to the searchlight.

"God, there's so much searchlight," Arin whined, waiting impatiently for the light to pass by. "Why do they need that much light, anyway?"

"They really don't," Arin watched as the light went up and he ran up to the stairway a few feet ahead of him, deciding to wait and play it safe. Dan, on the other hand, had a different idea, but due to the lack of light, he ran into Arin and nearly tripped over him, instead bracing himself against the wall.

"Ouch. Fuck, dude," Arin groaned, looking up at Dan.

"Sorry," Danny mumbled, waiting a few seconds before walking up the stairs, Arin following behind him. There was a minute of silence before Dan whispered "Wow, this is like American Gladiator,"

Arin started to giggle, making Danny smile. "When do they shoot the foam balls?" Arin laughed.

"Watch out for the nerf arrows!" Dan looked around the corner and saw a few steps of stairs leading up to the bottom of the tower. He took a step back, realizing that he should wait for the light to pass once more. He ended up right beside Arin, their shoulders touching.

"...You're getting awfully intimate with me right now," Arin commented, looking over at Danny.

"Well, you're my bro, and we're trying to escape prison for fucks sakes," Dan exclaimed, moving up the stairs. Him and Arin both ran across the open space until they were underneath the tower where the light wouldn't hit them. They then started to climb up the ladder, staying completely silent as they knew there was a guard controlling the searchlight. Once they both got up there, Dan snuck up behind the guard and knocked I'm out, the guard only letting out a yelp of surprise before he fell to the ground. "Shh," Dan whispered, looking down at the unconscious body. He heard Arin snicker and turned his attention to the spotlight, feeling around the side of it and turning it off after a few seconds.

"Now all of my inmate friends can go free!" Arin cheered, putting his hand out to the dark prison roof. He looked over at Dan for a reaction but Dan was looking around the tower.

"Where do we go next?" He asked, walking around the area. He walked inside a room in the middle of the tower, looking for something they could use inside of it. Arin walked around to the door as well, but paused when he saw a cord hanging from the tower to the ground.

"Hey, do you think we can use this to zip line across?" Arin asked, pointing at the cord. Dan looked over, uncertaincy written on his face.

"I don't know, dude. That's... that's a long drop," He pointed out

"Come on, man. We're breaking out of prison. We just need to find something to use..." Arin walked into the office and looked around, almost instantly noticing hangers. "Here, we can use these!" He took two off and handed one to Danny, who took it hesitantly. "These will hold my weight," Arin muttered sarcastically. When he looked up he saw Dan putting the hanger around the cord, already a step ahead of him. He took a deep breath and jumped, holding in his screams. Arin paused, surprised that Dan jumped first.

Dan was just as surprised as Arin, his thoughts not even rendering until his feet hit the ground. He let out a breath he didn't know he was holding and looked back up at Arin. He gave the thumbs up sign, giving Arin the confidence he needed to jump off as well. Arin started to zip line, yelling "weeeee!" as he slid. Danny was smiling.

That is, until the cord broke.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another chapter up... this cliffhanger made me write two chapters in one night. It's a shame I'm still lagging behind on my writing. I have exactly one two sentences done on chapter eight, and I just really, really want to sleep. I'll have more time to write once school's out, though!  
> (I'm setting myself for a trap once Alex comes into the story... how will I figure that out? Unless I want to make Danny and Brian gay, but I'm good with keeping this fic Gen. Oh well, I'll figure it out eventually)  
> Thanks for reading! Criticism or comments are always appreciated!


	7. It's Just Me: Mr. Bush

It took a few seconds for Arin to realize that he wasn't zip lining, but in fact falling while holding on to a cord. By the time he realized it he was already heading for the wall, leaving no time to stop himself. He reached for the cord instead, hitting the wall back first with a loud thud. "Ah, fuck!" Arin yelled in pain, nearly letting go of the cord.

Dan, on the other hand, was freaking out. He looked over at the pole the cord was connected to and realized that it was about to break. In a split-second he jumped, grabbing onto it just in time. He held on to the pole with his other hand, somewhat relieved that the cord weighed as much as a middle-aged man. He heard the sirens to the prison go off. _Took long enough_ He thought, but he couldn't think for long, because he was having a hard time holding on to Arin's weight.

"Fuck, they noticed us!" Dan yelled. Just as he said that he let go of the pole, stumbling and nearly falling. He held on to the cord with both hands, hearing Arin swear some more as Danny nearly fell off the edge of the roof.

"Are they shooting at us?" Arin called, hearing banging sounds.

"Yeah, man! Get up!" Dan yelled back, grunting as he tried to hold on tight enough. He could feel the cord slip every few seconds, not to mention he could have been shot at any time. Dan was about to let go when he saw Arin's head peek out. They both let go of the cord and grabbed each others hands, Danny pulling Arin up. "Fuck! Come on, we need to go!" Dan yelled, not caring if anyone heard at that point. He was glad Arin was safe, but that wasn't the end of it.

"Are we almost out?" Arin called, starting to run in the other direction of the now broken cord.

"I don't fucking know, man!" Dan yelled back. He was running until suddenly he was falling through glass, hearing Arin yell in surprise along with him. He quickly regained his step and got up, running again in any direction to give the least chance of getting shot. Arin was a few steps ahead. "They're shooting at us!" Dan shouted once again. "It's almost like we're criminals or something!" Dan was almost surprised by what he said; normally it was Arin making the jokes at the wrong time. They ran up to a large door and they got on either side of it, pulling up to raise it, and after a few seconds they were welcomed with the outdoors. They were close.

"Look, we're a couple of cards!" Arin called before he started to sprint again. The alarm was still blaring and there were gunshots being fired, but his adrenaline had reached a max, so much so that his fear had plateaued. "Shit, they're shooting to kill!" Arin called, hearing a fire of gunshots.

"Yeah, no shit!" Dan shouted after a moment. He could hear Arin cough, presumably from the cold air. "I'm scared!" Dan shrieked, now running nearly at the same time as Arin. They were running through the forest, no clear path ahead. Arin jumped over a log that Danny didn't catch, causing Dan to trip over it. He quickly got back up and continued to run, a few steps behind Arin. The alarm was getting quieter as they ran off, but they couldn't stop for breath. Not until they really lose the police.

 

_"Hey, I've been wanting to ask you something," Arin spoke, causing Dan to look up. They were sitting in a helicopter, both wearing bullet-proof vests. It was calm and quiet, the sound of the motor filling the empty spaces between conversations. "What's your name?"_

_Dan huffed, causing Arin to smile. "Nah, kidding. But back in the prison, when we were climbing that shaft -"_

_"Did you imagine it was my shaft?" Dan cut off Arin, a huge smile on his face._

_"Come on, man," Arin giggled. Once he regained his composure he continued. "No, I was just wondering... did you actually do that as a kid?"_

_"Nope," Danny smiled, looking Arin in the eyes to prove he wasn't lying._

_"What?" Arin exclaimed. Even though he asked, he was still expecting Dan to say yes._

_"I saw it in a comic book once, when I was a kid. I'm just glad it worked."_

_"Oh my god, dude!" Arin exclaimed, rubbing his face with his hand. "I can't believe you talked me into that,"_

_After a moment of silence Dan said "Me neither,"_

 

Arin and Dan were still running, but they slowed their pace to a jog momentarily. They jogged over to a ledge, about to climb on when they heard a loud motor noise.

"Fuck, a chopper?" Dan asked, looking up to see a helicopter with a searchlight ahead of them.

"We really pissed them off. They're using everything they got," Arin responded. "Let's just run towards it, then. Great idea," He said sarcastically, not stopping from his jog.

"No, run down, away from the chopper," Danny remarked. They continued to run down the trail in silence for a minute, keeping an ear out for any guards or noises until they ended up face to face with a cliff, about seven feet in height. They knew what they had to do. Arin sat down and let Dan climb on him to get on the ledge, then Dan pulled Arin up. Simple enough.

"Why are all these ledges just the right height for us to climb?" Arin asked, but Dan wasn't listening. He waved a hand at Arin, telling him to be quiet.

"There are guards everywhere. Keep your head down," He whispered. Arin hummed and crouched down, staying low. "I'm going to keep my butt up, though, because... you know, well, whatever," Danny trailed off, realizing he had no good punchline for the joke.

"Because that's the way I like to fuck," Arin retorted.

Danny smiled to himself and walked into a bunch of bushes, leafy enough to cover them. "We should be able to hid in these bushes," He whispered, knowing Vincent was behind him.

"I think they have dogs. Are they going to sniff us?" Arin asked, staying close to Dan. Dan shrugged in response even though Arin couldn't see him.

"We're going to go from bush to bush," Danny explained before he snuck from one side of the trail to the other, hiding in the same type of bushes that populated the whole area. Arin followed him shortly after, and they went to a third bush a little down the trail.

"Man, do you think it'll be smart if we look in these bushes?" Arin asked in his fake guard voice. "Nah," He responded to himself. They snuck to the next bush and Arin waited until the guards were a bit away before whispering "Does it smell like criminal in these bushes? Do you smell that?" Dan was trying not to laugh, but hearing Arin made it hard.

"It's just me: Mister Bush," Dan whispered.

"Bush, bush, bush, bush, bush," Arin whispered. He changed to his guard voice and said "It sounds like a bush here, doesn't it?"

"We're going to get caught, Ar," Dan half whined, half whispered. He went quiet as they switched bushes but it didn't last long.

They found themselves at either side of the trail, two guards between them. Arin suddenly lept from his side, knocking one guard out. Dan responded quickly by taking the other out, hoping he wasn't too late. "Fuck, man! Warn me before you do that!" Dan scolded, pushing the guard into the fern. They continued sneaking around, Dan taking out another guard.

"Damn, I'm good at the side-head-punch move," Dan whispered. "That's my move. I'm going to call it... the Danny move," Arin giggled and hid in a bush with Danny. He looked around to make sure there was no guard within earshot of him.

"You know, it sounds more convincing if we make the bush sound together," Arin whispered.

"Arin, no -"

"Bush, bush, bush, bush," Arin repeated. Dan could feel the smile on the other's face. Soon they were both whispering 'bush' repeatedly, until they moved shrubs again. They saw two guards standing next to each other, in a perfect position to be taken out at the same time, so that's exactly what Dan and Arin did. They both did it at the same time and dropped the bodies slowly as to make as little noise as possible. Then they proceeded to climb down the ledge. There was a bright light just ahead of them, revealing where a bunch of guards were.

"God, how many guards are here?" Arin asked, exasperated.

"Two, probably," Dan answered. "Maybe five," They continued on, listening to the cops talk about where they placed men - probably over five. Dan was sneaking around rocks, attempting to get a better look at the group.

"Look at you shimmy," Arin whispered from behind Dan.

"I'm not shimmying," Dan whispered back.

"No, you are shimmying. That is a very good shimmy,"

"Stop saying that,"

"I have never seen anything so shimmy-esc in my whole life,"

Dan sighed but otherwise didn't respond, still looking over the rocks. Just as he was, he saw a guard carrying a light walk through just a little ahead the trail. Danny swore and ran back to the bush, Arin following. He watched Arin get ahead and sneak behind the guard, knocking him out silently. They continued down the rocks, climbing down carefully. Arin was a little ahead, but not so far that Danny couldn't see him.

Dan suddenly saw something brown fly past him, making him pause. "Pinecones are flying everywhere," He sighed dramatically, catching up to Arin.

"Pinecones?" Arin asked, pausing to look at Danny.

"Well, something brown," Dan muttered.

"I think those are leaves," And it suddenly clicked to Dan that pinecones don't really float in the wind. "I don't think pinecones... catch wind like leaves do,"

Dan huffed and rolled his eyes, about to climb down a ledge with Arin before realizing that it was a very steep ledge. "I have a feeling we're not supposed to go down there," Arin said, grabbing onto Dan's arm before he went any further. Dan started to look around for somewhere else to go but instantly saw a bridge with lights, and a path going straight to it.

"We'll have to cross that bridge," Arin pointed at the bridge like Dan wasn't already looking at it.

"No shit," Dan retorted, making Arin roll his eyes. They continued their walk in silence, still keeping a lookout for guards walking the path. There were none, not until closer to the end. Two guards facing each other, something Dan and Arin haven't faced yet.

"You go to that side," Arin pointed near where the other guard was, "And I'll stay here. Jump out when I do," Arin whispered. Dan nodded and went around the other side. Arin waited for a minute before stepping out of his hiding spot and waiting just a second before attacking his guard, Dan doing the same on the other side. "Nice," Arin smiled, looking down at the body. They continued on their walk until they came up to the bridge.

"Well, no turning back now," Arin looked over at Dan while he said that, watching Dan nod. They did their now-ritual climbing on each other to get over the ledge. Once Dan pulled Arin up he turned around and flinched at the sight of police cars. Many of them.

"Shit," Dan cursed. "We can't run faster than thirty-five miles per hour," Dan pointed at the speed limit sign, smiling at his own joke.

Arin looked around and saw a way under the bridge. "We can sneak under the bridge," He proposed.

"No way," Dan stated before Arin even finished the sentence. "Too high, too risky. They made roads on top of bridges for a reason," Dan looked around for any better ideas. "How about we knock that guy out, take his car and go across the bridge," He pointed to a lone police car and cop near where him and Arin were standing.

"That's a stupid idea-"

"I don't like heights, man, okay?" Dan snapped.

Dan and Arin stared at each other, unmoving, almost as if whoever blinked first lost. Arin raised an eyebrow at Dan and Dan in return looked away, his eyes bouncing between the many police cars on the bridge and the metal gate leading to under the bridge. After what felt like full minutes he finally broke, sighing and walking towards the gate leading under the bridge. He could practically feel Arin's proud smirk from behind him as they walked down the walkway.

"Don't look down, Danny," Arin teased as they got up to a part with no railings whatsoever. Dan felt his breath catch in his throat. He looked down and realized that not only was it a long way down, but the ground was also made with metal in a wire formation, leaving gaps he could see through. "This is way safer!" Arin smiled, Danny silently disagreeing as he felt slightly dizzy. Not too bad - hopefully it didn't get any worse.

"Punching that guy would be more fun," Dan commented, watching Arin jump over a hole. Oh shit. Dan wasn't good at jumping. Well, he wasn't good at much, but jumping was not a strong point. Dan took a few steps back and ran, jumping over the gap easily. Okay, maybe his long legs did come in handy. Or maybe it was because he was imagining the hole bigger than it was. Whatever. Dan took a breath but stopped when he saw what Arin was doing next.

"This isn't too bad!" Arin smiled. He was on a tiny ledge with nothing but a support bar holding him up, and it was a long way to the other side. "We got a bar to hold on to, there's no rain so it's not slippery, it's like they made this for escaping prison!"

Dan unwillingly got on the ledge, holding on to the bars like it was the only thing keeping him from dropping, which it was. "You know, I'm not a big fan of heights," Dan repeated, slowly sliding across.

"Well, don't look down," Arin was a few feet above Dan, already near the end. "Oh, wow, that's really far down," Arin sang, looking down to tease Dan. Dan knew it wasn't a good idea to look down but it couldn't be that bad, right? He rolled his eyes but found them trailing down to the ground beneath and oh god, the dizziness came back.

"I'm looking down, I'm looking down!" Dan exclaimed a bit too loudly, his eyes glued to the ground for just a second before closing tightly. He kept moving, holding on to the rail even harder thanks to the dizziness leaving him unsteady. "Shit, shit, shit," he swore, nearly walking off the pipes he was walking on. He finally got off, stumbling slightly and looking around for Arin.

"Why'd you look down - oh, wow, wow, wow, a chopper," Arin trailed off as he heard the loud whirring of the motor he somehow didn't hear before. "Let's get down," He whispered, watching the searchlight look under the bridge. He knelt under the wall and so did Danny, both of them holding their breath as the light passed over them. The second it left they continued, knowing there was a good chance the cops would check again. They made their way to another bridge, this one with an engine in the middle of it.

Arin shrugged and started to walk around it. Dan started as well but jumped back suddenly when the whole bridge collapsed with Arin on it. Arin luckily jumped at just the right time and grabbed on to the edge that Dan was standing on, grunting. Without hesitation Dan reached down, grabbing Arin's hand and pulling him up. "Fuck, what happened?" Arin asked once he got on solid ground.

"What do you fucking think happened? A dragon came," Dan deadpanned, causing Arin to burst out laughing. "He melted the bridge," Dan laughed. The stress from what just happened dwindled as they laughed it off. They paused at a dead end, with nowhere to go except... up? They both caught sight of yellow bars leading across the open bridge.

"I am not climbing that -"

"Well then I'll do it. Sit down, let me climb you," Arin sighed. Dan complied and they quickly got the job done, Arin now hanging from the bars. Dan stood there and watched, nervous just by watching the other climb. It wasn't until Arin reached the other side that Danny had a thought. _What was he supposed to do?_

"Uh, Ar?" Dan called, looking around. "What am I going to do?" He asked. Arin waved and walked into a smaller room, Dan mirroring where he went from the other side. He found that the room and the broken bridge connected, and that the bridge went a little over halfway to the door already and - oh, no.

"I am not going to jump it, dude," Dan stated, shaking his head.

"Would you have rather climbed on some unsafe monkey bars?" Arin asked. Dan sighed, ignoring the question and instead staring at Arin's outstretched hand.

He breathed, took a few steps back, and then jumped.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> While editing this I realized I wrote 'Vincent' instead of 'Arin'. I hope I didn't slip-up anywhere else, because my spell check program doesn't detect that, so I probably won't notice.  
> Now that school's out I'm hoping to create a buffer between when I write these and when they go up so I have time to work on my side story - which just so happens to be another A Way Out fanfiction. I should have more time to write now. Yay!  
> Thanks for reading! I love reading all of the comments I get. Makes my day :P


	8. Grab My Wet, Slippery Hand!

Dan stopped from flailing his hands around and instead kept his left hand- his dominant one - outstretched for Arin to grab. Luckily, Arin got hold of it and helped pull Dan over. "Grab my hand! Grab my wet, slippery hand!" Arin joked, letting go once he knew Dan was okay. Dan recovered from the jump, giggling at Arin's joke, fear etched into his laugh. There had been way too many jumps over large gaps for Dan in one day, and he was getting tired of it. The reoccurring fear that tightens around Dan's chest leaves him worn out and wishing for a moment to breathe, but Arin was already walking ahead. "One second, someone dropped motor oil, let me pick it up in my hands... All right, now grab my hand," Dan laughed, hoping the jokes would make the slight tremor in his hands stop. Just as expected they had to cross yet another pipe, this one without any railings at all. There were two pipes right up against the wall, meaning that the only thing Dan had to lean against was the stone wall.

Danny swallowed the lump in his throat and closed his eyes for a second before crossing the pipes, just a few steps behind Arin. "Fuck, this is a long bridge," Dan muttered, thinking about anything except for how far away the ground was.

Arin was about to say something when the sound of another voice cut them off. It was a cop standing nearly right above them, by the volume of her voice. The two criminals hurried to get to the other side of the pipes, but calmed slightly once they realized the cops thought the two were in a completely different place. How could they not guess that they're under the bridge - oh God, no.

Dan stopped in his tracks when he saw it. Once again, two pipes side to side with just enough room for them to walk across, but this time there were no barriers to hold on to, no walls to lean against, just a single bar holding the pipes up in the middle. Dan was about to walk away and look for a different way when Arin held out his hand from where he was standing in the middle of the pipes, the other arm holding on to the bar. Dan knew he couldn't argue because the cops would hear them if they even dared to make a noise, so Dan sucked it up and ran across the pipe, grabbing Arin's hand. He paused in the middle, about to let Arin run the rest of the way before realizing that he probably couldn't stay up on the pipe for that long without getting considerably dizzy and light-headed. So he ran across, grabbing onto the metal bar at the end of the pipe as soon as possible. He got his footing and reached out to signal to Arin to run across. Arin did, nearly tripping on the way. While Dan was terrified, Arin seemed to not be bothered and continued to walk around, coming up to a door. Danny took a deep breath and followed Arin, ignoring how he felt a little too woozy to be normal.

"This is the way out. We can probably break the lock," Arin muttered, jiggling the doorknob uselessly. "Use your big, dumb, hard head," he proposed, looking for some way to break it.

"You got it," Danny whispered, trying the door as well. "Damn, it's just as locked as when you tried it," He joked, not expecting an answer but also not expecting a smash from a bit away. When he turned around he saw Arin holding a fire axe.

"I found this axe," Arin held it in both hands and shown it to Danny.

"That will never work," Danny grumbled, humor tinted in his voice. He took a breath, the main fear from the jumps wearing off slowly.

"Can I... axe you a question?" Arin asked, putting emphasis on the 'axe'.

"Good one, Arin," Danny said sarcastically, circling around to follow Arin back to the door.

"Thanks," Arin muttered, putting the handle of the axe through the lock. "We're a couple of cards." There was a moment of silence before Arin broke the lock. "That was easy," He mumbled, throwing the discarded lock and axe to the ground. "It was unlocked. Why didn't either of us check?" He asked, getting a giggle from Dan.

They walked through a beige looking room and Dan was relieved to know that they were past the bridge, and that they were not doing any dangerous walks across pipes anymore. Arin went to open the door but hesitated. "There's someone there. Be cautious," Arin whispered, Dan nodded and stood back when Arin opened the door, just in case they were facing them.

"Who's there?" Danny whispered in a childish voice, sneaking behind Arin to avoid getting caught. They were outside now, the guard was facing the opposite direction from them. "Just being careful by making sure I identify... if they're friend or foe," Dan smiled as he spoke and followed Arin into the bushes. The cop was on a ledge they could get on if they climbed on each other like Dan and Arin had done in the past.

Dan started to climb from Arin's thighs to his shoulders when Arin whispered "God, I love this part," In a lower voice. Dan had to stop himself from laughing as he climbed on the ledge, too wet to care if he kneeled in a puddle as he got on. He started to sneak up behind the cop on the ledge. Slowly... slowly... until he finally was close enough to grab on to him and knock him out.

"Did you forget about your friend Arin down here?" Dan heard Arin call him in a quiet enough voice that other cops wouldn't be alarmed. Dan turned around to go back for Arin when he heard a strong voice call 'Stop right there!'

He sighed and put his hands up over his head, hoping Arin heard as well and could get him out. Danny was facing away from the cop but from what he could tell there was only one. They had a gun, though. Dan heard the cop yell 'Down on your knees!' and he obliged, praying that Arin would save him. It was too early in their journey to just get caught.

Arin at the bottom of the ledge heard the cop and cursed. Dan needed his help. He barely considered using Dan as bait before stopping that thought - he needed Dan's help, too. How else would they find Mark? Arin looked around and started heading for the other side of the ledge, hoping there would be a way up there. He heard Dan trying to stall the cop, spewing bullshit that would probably only stop him for a few seconds. It was better than nothing, though. Once Arin got the other side he saw that his hypothesis was true - the ledge was much shorter there. He pulled himself up and saw Dan and the cop, the police slowly walking towards Danny and Danny talking about 'letting him go and nobody gets hurt'.

Arin snuck behind the cop and grabbed onto his arm holding the gun, hoping to startle the cop enough that he would let go of the gun. Instead, he held on, only firing in a random direction. Arin quickly knocked him out but had no time to breath, because as soon as he was done there were two cops with dogs, and they didn't look nice.

They both jumped and started to run towards the forest, Arin moving before he even realized what was going on. Even though they were sprinting their near hardest, the dogs were faster. Dan heard the dogs coming up fast and barely had time to react before one jumped up to grab his left arm. He jumped out of the way and swerved right, going down a different path than Arin.

"Fucking dogs? Are you serious?" Danny yelled and Arin could surprisingly hear him - either Dan was yelling really loud or they weren't that far apart. He looked over to see only a light layer of trees before another moving object which he assumed was Dan. He didn't dare look back to see if the dogs were chasing him. He couldn't tell the barks from the dogs chasing Dan and the ones chasing him apart.

"You don't have to fuck them!" Arin called between breaths. It was dark, and he could barely see where he was going, nearly tripping over a stone. "Just keep running!"

"Oh, I'm not stopping, that's for - ahh!" Arin flinched hen he heard Dan yell. He had to look over and luckily saw Dan still running. "I nearly tripped!" Dan yelled in explanation.

Arin wanted to make another comment but was alarmed by how close the barking was. "They're catching on us!" Arin yelled. He barely felt his lungs burning over the adrenaline, and he barely heard his heartbeat over Dan yelling about how much he hated dogs.

"I fucking hate dogs! Fuck - Ahh, shit!" Arin felt a pierce of worry when he fell from running to sliding down a mud slide, Dan's voice quickly getting too far away. When he looked beside him he felt sick to his stomach, realizing Dan was nowhere to be seen.

Nothing but a suspicion to Arin, Dan was still at the top of the mudslide, now being mauled by a dog and oh, shit, it hurt. It was grabbing onto his arm and it was relentless, his teeth baring deep into Dan's skin. He tried fighting the dog but once push came to shove he was forced to kick it, not having time to feel guilty as he stumbled to run away. He was somewhat grateful for the cliff but it didn't stop there, because just ahead he could see Arin watch him from across a jump that seemed way too far for where Dan was. No, he couldn't do it, he wouldn't do it. He'd rather fall -that was a lie, because as soon as he started sliding he stopped, and instead of falling he jumped off, looking frantically for Arin's outstretched hand.

It felt like everything was going in slow motion. Arin was reached out, distress evident on his face and Dan was falling, falling, falling. He quickly saw himself coming closer to Arin until he grabbed his hand tightly, it not stopping him from hitting the rocks. Even though the rocks knocked the wind out of him, Dan still managed to get up, looking Arin in the eyes before running, letting Arin take the lead once again.

They wouldn't stop running until the cops lost them, no matter how long it'd take.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright guys I need feedback!  
> Even though I'm far away from the end of this, I'm already thinking about the ending. I could keep it similar to the ending of the game (A nice, sad punch to the feels) but I've found that I have problems writing the end scene well. I just can't get the emotions right. Plus, it doesn't match up with Dan and Arin's commentary at all. So I'm thinking... maybe I can change the ending. I have an idea for it, but it doesn't have the same punch-in-the-feels type of thing that the normal ending has, plus it's a bit cheesy.   
> So what I'm asking is if you guys would rather see something (Close to) the original ending of A Way Out for this, or do you want to see a little spin? The spin will be a bit happier but maybe a little ooc for A Way Out? (Sorry, I don't want to spoil it)  
> Please comment what you think! I'll still keep it a surprise on which one I do decide to do. Thank you for reading!


	9. Alex Is A Helicopter, I Should Of Told You That

Mark eyed the two men as they talked in a language he didn't understand, his patience wearing thin. These two weren't strangers, but they weren't close enough that Mark felt safe with the jewel sitting on the table freely. He didn't feel safe around anyone. Everyone fucks him over.

"Just tell him. This is the deal; either you take it or you don't," Mark stated, directing what he was saying towards the man to his right. The man on his left didn't know English well, apparently. The two looked at him for a second and continued to talk, leaving Mark to sit between them, looking blankly at the shine from the sun on the jewel. It was always hot in Mexico, even in the forest. Mark lived in a mansion there where nobody knew him, but it wasn't like he had time to relax in the pool often. He always had people watching over the place somewhere, or people buying stolen items. He racked up quite a lot of money from his little business, between robbing and stealing and turning around to sell anything for triple the price.

"He says no. The price is too high, it must come down," The man to his right said.

"Not going to happen," Mark responded, crossing his arms over his chest. Sure, he was selling the precious item for nearly double its cost, but it was worth it for the deal he had to go through to get it.

He was about to say something else when Sean, one of his workers, came up behind him. "Mark, I need to talk to you -"

"Wait," Mark barked, but Sean didn't wait.

"It's important. You need to hear this," With that, Mark sighed and got up, glaring at the two men intimidatingly to tell them that they shouldn't even think about getting up from their chairs. He followed Sean to the other side of the outdoor area.

"What is it?" Mark asked, some of his past angry tone disappearing when he talked to Sean. Him and Sean had been friends for a few years, so Mark trusted him partially.

"It's Dan. He escaped prison,"

"What?"

"I just got the call," Sean explained, glancing at the phone momentarily.

"Isn't he supposed to be dead?"

"Our guy fucked up, got killed by one of the guards,"

Mark sighed, frustrated at how others turn out. "I can't believe it. Look, you need to find him, okay?"

"Alright, boss," Sean agreed nearly as soon as Mark was done his sentence. "But I'm not sure if the men we have will be suitable for -"

"Not my problem. Do whatever you need to do to stop Dan Avidan, I don't care how, just get it done." With that, Mark turned around and started a brisk walk back to his buyers, hearing Sean mutter an 'okay, boss,' as he walked off. "So? Deal or not?" Mark asked, knowing what would happen if there would be no deal.

"Price down, or no deal," The man explained in a thick accent. Mark internally sighed. Ruining his lawn chairs again.

"No deal," Mark swiftly pulled out a handgun and shot them both in a matter of a few seconds. Now that it was over, he just needed to get Dan and kill him.

Easier said than done, apparently. He's said it enough already.

 

Dan and Arin continued to walk, Dan closer to frolicking as they reached an opening to the forest. Contrary to the downpour the night before, it was sunny, just enough to keep the two from catching pneumonia from the rain. Their clothes had dried due to their shirts only being light linen. "Miami, Florida," Dan stated as he walked into the clearing. Arin snorted, making Dan burst out laughing.

"Night time," Arin stated in a completely serious voice as they both walked up to the ledge, looking down. They continued to openly laugh, a change from when they had to stay quiet in the prison, as they went down the cliff and towards a camp site a bit away.

"Dead of winter," Dan giggled. They quickly found themselves at the bottom of the cliff, a pang of hunger growing once Danny stopped laughing. He looked beside him to make sure Arin was still there and they continued. "I'm hungry," Danny vocalized his hunger, nervous energy keeping him from staying still or quiet for long.

"Me too," Arin sighed after a moment. "Who eats who?"

"Why do you keep bringing that up?" Dan faked annoyance that got a laugh from Arin. Danny was glad he had Arin with him. The two of them somehow had a similar sense in humor, and it caused the mood to be way brighter than it probably should have been. Not that Dan was complaining. "I'd die for a burger right about now," Dan commented absentmindedly, following Arin through a route in the forest.

"You might," Arin smiled. "I brought my meat grinder. Even better - you'll die as a burger,"

They both laughed and fell into silence, like most of their walk had been. The silence stretched anywhere from a few seconds to a full half hour, but it was rarely awkward. It almost felt like the two had known each other for longer than just a week. Dan looked up to find Arin jogging and getting a good distance ahead of him. "Fuck man, you're going so fast!" Dan commented, jogging to catch up.

"I'm running, are you going to run? I'm going to run," Arin said.

"That isn't really a run,"

"Yeah it is,"

Dan grumbled as he caught up to Arin enough that he didn't need to raise his voice. "What is considered a run? How do you even run?" Dan asked, his sleepiness fogging his mind.

"You put one foot in front of the other, it's easy," Arin said. "A run qualifies as... as being off the ground totally for a certain amount of time, otherwise it's a brisk walk," Arin smiled, enjoying the easy flow of their conversations, even when they didn't make full sense.

"I'm afraid of heights, Ar, I told you that already!" Dan exclaimed. He watched Arin jump over a small ledge easily but Dan didn't have such luck. He hadn't built up enough speed and instead stopped in front of it, having to take a few steps back. By the time he got over the jump Arin was lower in the trail, scoffing at him. Dan pointedly ignored him, instead walking up to a log blocking their path and motioning for Arin to help lift it up. They did and got underneath it, grunting as they got past. Looking up they saw a small camp completed with a tent and a fire pit with nothing but a few embers left.

"There's a camp," Arin stated the obvious, swinging his arm towards the campsite.

"It looks deserted. I say lets check it out. There may be food," With that, Dan jumped down from the ledge, Arin following suit. They wandered into the pond just a few meters from the camp, Dan hesitant to get his feet wet but realizing there was fish in the water. He jumped when he felt cold water on his at, and turned around to see Arin splashing him.

"This is fun! Are you having fun?" Arin asked excitedly, splashing around madly. Danny giggled and splashed the water back at Arin, it soon falling into a full-on splash battle. A few minutes of splashing and screaming later and they were both wet and tired. They started to take a good look at their surroundings, not that it was anything new to what they've been walking through for the past while.

"Here - you splash the fish towards me and I'll catch them," Dan explained, watching the fish swim around the pond.

The next ten minutes were spent splashing around the water, attempting to catch fish, with an equal amount of yelling from Arin and an equal amount of suspenseful music from Dan. They would corner them just for the fish to escape before either could lunge to grab them. It wasn't until they stopped to light the fire when Dan saw a discarded knife on a stump, a few long sticks surrounding it and - spears. They could make spears. How did they not think of spears?

"I need firewood," Arin mentioned as he blew on the embers with no luck.

"Too bad, I'm making spears," Dan said. He sat down on the stump and grabbed a stick, cutting it to make a sharp edge. He saw Arin walk away from the fire to find wood and he finished his spear - it was crude, but it worked. "I'm like Tom Cruise from Cast Away," Dan smiled, walking back to the water with his new weapon.

"Tom Cruise?" Arin laughed from where he was gathering wood. "I'm like Anne Hathaway, from Cast Away," Arin mocked, laughing.

Arin brought the firewood back to the fire and helped Dan catch the fish by splashing, attempting to make a smart plan by timing his splashes. It was silent, save for Arin's annoyed grumbles, until Arin spoke up. "So, you're in a band?" Arin asked, looking up.

"Hmm?" Dan was so focused on spearing he wasn't expecting Arin to bring _that_ up. "Oh, yeah. Me and Brian,"

"You still haven't told me the band name. I want to be able to stalk you once this is over," Arin smiled.

Dan contemplated giving a fake name before deciding not to. Most people who hear the name just think of Dan weird, but Arin had a different sense of humor. "Ninja Sex Party,"

"Ninja Sex Party?" Arin asked, pausing his splashes to look at Danny.

"Yeah, the three best things in life: ninjas, sex and parties," Dan smiled. "I'm Danny Sexbang and Brian is Ninja Brian. The partying just happens naturally,"

There was silence and for a moment Dan was afraid he weirded Arin out. "That's actually really fucking cool," Arin said. "Are you the singer?"

"Yeah," Just as Dan said that he speared a fish. He cheered, waving his spear in the air before going back to the campfire.

"Ugh, now I need to craft a spear! Oh, boy," Arin sighed, realizing that he had no fish to eat. He created his spear easily and went back to the pond, singing about spearing the fish on his first try while Dan cooked his. It was five minutes before Dan decided to help, and Arin was singing about spearing the fish on his ninth try. They cheered once Arin caught his fish and went back to the fire, relishing in their small victory.

 

"That tasted terrible, man!" Dan wrinkled his nose, throwing the extra fish away. Arin was still picking at his due to his fish being done later than Dan's.

"Dear Diary, I had to eat Arin. The end," Arin spoke quickly, getting a chuckle out of Dan. They were both exhausted, and it was late in the day. Running on near no sleep really caught up to them.

"And my feet hurt," Danny complained. "What about yours?" He asked, watching Arin put his stick to the side as he finished his fish.

"Nah, mine are fine," Arin lied. Really, it was his back that was hurting the most, but there was no reason to have two grumpy guys on the trip.

"Oh, you're a tough guy. I see how it is," Dan's voice came out ruder than he expected, but he was too tired - and still hungry - to care. "By the way, what are you in for?"

Arin tensed for a moment and Dan realized that maybe not everyone wants to talk about it, but luckily Arin didn't take it bad. "Something I didn't do," He looked at his hands clasped between his knees when he said that.

"You're innocent, huh?" Dan asked. There was a faint glimmer of disbelief, but he decided to roll with it anyway. As long as they were both looking for revenge on Harvey. "I am, too," He said. Not really a lie, but not the complete truth, either. He got caught for something that he didn't do, sure, but that didn't wipe away the year of drug dealing he did in the past.

"Sure,"

"How about family? Do you have any?" Dan asked. He saw Arin's eyes brighten just a fraction when he mentioned family.

"A wife, I hope. You?" Arin added the 'I hope' after a moment not to bring attention to himself, but due to the fight they've been in. He didn't mention his soon to be daughter, still not used to bringing her up as part of the family.

"I've never been one for dating. Commitment makes me itch. I live with Brian, though, and there's our neighbor's kid that always comes over, Alex," Dan smiled. He wasn't a commitment person but he sure was a kid person, so he enjoyed it when he had to babysit Alex due to his single father having a part-time job.

"Alex," Arin echoed, nodding. He realized that they were slowly developing into small talk, but couldn't think of anything to say.

"Yeah, he's a kid," Dan repeated, hoping to bring a bit of light heartedness into the conversation. The only reaction was a huff from Arin and they fell back into silence. One question was still bothering Dan, though. "Look, I need you to tell me your story with Mark, alright?"

Arin looked up at Dan and nodded. "Alright. I work part-time between being a boring banker and voice acting, and one day my brother brings in a new client: Mark,"

"Let me guess, money laundering?" Dan piped in.

"Yep. Money was easy, but Mark kept coming in with more and more cash. I enjoyed the amount I was making, but it was really risky. I didn't want to get thrown in the wrong crowd, y'know?" Dan nodded and Arin continued. "I told him I wanted out, and he didn't take it well. He killed my brother as a warning. After that, I lost it. I got pissed at first and nearly broke my whole house, but I got a plan to kill him instead. Or I was, until Mark pinned it all on me. He accused me of killing Alex," Arin grit out, not liking to tell the story.

Dan was quiet. "Wow, that must be really tough, man," He paused, then realizing what Arin said. "Wait, did you say Alex?"

"Who's Alex?" Arin asked, a grin growing on his face.

"My neighbor's son," Dan said, half realizing where Arin was going.

"Your neighbor's son is my brother? Or is he Harvey?" Arin watched confusion grow on Dan's face. "No, my brother is also named Alex,"

There was silence, the two criminals staring at each other. "But Harvey is also named Alex. His name is Alex-Harvey," Dan said quickly. "He fucked me over,"

"Alex?" Arin asked.

"No, Harvey. Harvey-Alex,"

Arin was about to say something else when they heard a helicopter in the distance. He saw Dan stand up so he did as well, both of them catching sight of the helicopter. "Is that your son?" Arin asked.

"Fuck, man!" Dan laughed. "This was supposed to be a serious conversation," They started their walk back into the forest, not getting to enjoy the quiet for long.

"I'll leave the fire on and carve my name into this tree, Alex was here," Arin laughed, not turning around for the fire. "I'll also write where we're going in case we get turned around,"

Dan laughed, processing what Arin said a few seconds later. "Alex is a helicopter, I should have told you that," Dan joked.

"Alex! We're down here!" Arin called to the helicopter, getting a punch in the arm by Dan.

"Wait, that's not Alex... that's the cops!" Dan exclaimed.

"They disguised themselves as your son!" Arin yelled, and Dan decided not to point out that Alex wasn't his son.

"They just... pull a fucking curtain off the helicopter," Dan laughed. "Surprise!"

Yeah, Dan could get used to this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so unhappy with this chapter that I was making last-minute edits as I copy/pasted it into AO3. Not a good sign. Who knew summer break would give me writers block? Oh well, chapter ten seems to be better... lets see if I think the same when I post it in a week.
> 
> As always, thanks for reading!


	10. Damn Diddly Doo Horses!

"You're a banker, huh? Makes sense," Dan said as he jumped off a boulder. He was a few steps behind Arin, letting the other man lead the way.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Arin asked, turning to face Dan while walking backwards for a moment before turning back around.

"You're boring as shit," Dan joked.

"Wh- Andy Dufresne worked in a bank!" Arin defended himself, picking up a loose stick on the side of the trail, throwing it down for added effect.

They continued walking in silence, Dan kicking a rock on the trail before speaking again, "You know what?"

"What?"

"You're the first banker I've talked to without a gun in my hand," Dan admitted. "But I'm innocent. Just wanted to reiterate that,"

Arin smiled, "I'm innocent," he mocked. "I've robbed banks but I'm still completely innocent for whatever they put me in for - robbing banks? I did that. But I'm innocent,"

Arin walked up to a ledge, seeing a farm just a bit farther away. "Wow, a farm!" He exclaimed, somewhat surprised to find some type of human life other than a tiny campsite. He turned around on his heels suddenly to face Dan. "We can start a new life, Danny!" he exclaimed, cracking both of them up.

"No," Dan said dramatically. "We need to find Alex,"

"The helicopter?" Arin asked between giggles. "He can come, too," Arin started to walk down the trail, Dan following.

Dan laughed and made a helicopter motor noise, followed by a high-pitched voice yelling "Dan!"

"Alex!" Arin yelled a little too loud for safety. "I hope to one day have a baby helicopter of my own," Arin sighed.

"The birthing process was hell, I can tell you that much," Dan smiled. They were both quiet for a beat before they burst out in giggles again, quieting down as they came up to the farm. Arin took a few seconds to look around before walking up to a panel covering a hole in the old fence. The panel came off fairly easily with little trouble and Arin took a step back, looking at the fence and at Dan once he walked up beside him.

"Huh, it says 'criminals welcome'" Arin said.

"That can't mean us, we're innocent!" Dan's voice got lower as he walked around the side of the house, hearing a strange noise. After closer inspection they found out the noise was a television that they could see through the window. They crouched down behind some bushes and looked into the house, hearing about their escape in the news. They saw an old couple by the tables, the woman with her back to Dan and Arin and the man watching the news.

"It's a good thing I set up mines all around the house!" Arin whispered in an old lady voice, laughing at his own joke.

"She doesn't fuck around," Dan responded. They watched the two talk, their voices just muffled enough that they couldn't understand them. Dan was the first to say, "I say we take them out,"

"Are you crazy? They're an old couple, we can't do that!" Arin whispered back.

"I don't mean it like that, man. I mean to tie them up or something, I don't know," Dan tried to reason. He saw uncertainty in Arin's eyes. "We really need to change clothes, not just for hygiene but because we'll be spotted in an instant,"

Arin sighed. "I don't like it, I say we take them out of the house," Arin paused. "What do you mean? You look like a dude in a T-shirt,"

"A dude in a prison t-shirt. It's better if we get something to blend in. Plus, how are we going to take them out of the house?"

Arin looked around for a moment before nodding at the barn in the distance. "You see that barn? I say we release the horses,"

"Release the horses?" Dan wrinkled his nose. "How would that help?"

"Trust me. They'd have to go out and get them back," Arin said. They looked at each other for a moment. "So, do you wanna release the horses?"

Dan grumbled, hating to let Arin win the argument again. "Yeah, fine. Let's go." And with that they started to walk down to the barn, making sure to stay low and behind the bushes. The window facing the barn was luckily covered by a curtain so the two could go up to the doors with less worry of being caught. All hopes of this being a simple in-and-out were crushed when Arin tried the barn door and it was locked.

"Crap, it's locked," Arin muttered, looking for a different way in.

"Lock, it's crapped," Dan echoed. "Hey, come this way," He pointed to a fence and quickly jumped over it, Arin following.

Dan gasped when he heard a rooster squawk. "Chickens!" He breathed. "I'm going to pet the chickens," Dan made a beeline for the chickens, ignoring Arin telling him to not get sidetracked. Dan paused when he got to the chain-linked fence surrounding the chickens. "I can't jump it! Arin, I can't get to the chickens!" Dan looked back and saw Arin walking around the side of the barn and finally decided to temporarily pause on his chicken adventure. He started to walk up to where Arin was, a pen of cows coming into view.

"We're trying to get to the horses, Dan," Arin reminded, reaching over to pet a cow, his arm only inches away.

"Yeah, how do you even know that there will be horses in here?"

"Maybe because it's a horse barn?" Arin tried, facing Dan to raise an eyebrow.

"Yeah, but it could be empty,"

"You're empty," Arin grumbled in a failed comeback. Just as he said that they both heard a horse neigh, proving Arin's point.

Even though the point had been proven, there was still no visible way to get into the barn. They looked around the space they had and walked along the perimeter of the fences but couldn't see anything. After some confused noises from Arin and a joke about letting the cows loose by Dan they finally stopped, Arin standing in the middle of the field.

"You're so dumb, Dan," He sighed.

"Sorry,"

"I forgive you," Arin walked back towards the cows but Dan caught sight of a yellow ladder leaning on a tree. He went and picked it up, turning to see Arin talking and petting a cow. "I think the cow likes it," Arin commented, not looking back at Dan.

"That's nice,"

"He wants to be set free, just like us," Arin turned around from his petting, only then seeing Dan carrying the ladder to the barn. "Wow, man. Nice ladder," He commented. Dan hummed and placed the ladder by an open window at the side of the barn, somehow nearly the correct height. He stood back from it just to have Arin budge in and start to climb it. "After me," He laughed. Dan followed Arin and soon they were both in the second floor of the barn, climbing off of a pile of hay.

"Good, now all we need to do is let the horses out," Arin looked around at the dimly lit barn, looking for the best way to get the horses out.

"Thanks for reminding me, I never would have known otherwise," Danny said sarcastically, getting a huff out of Arin.

Arin came up to a cement mixer on the second floor. "Hey, we can probably scare the horses with this, Dan," He called, looking for Dan who had started to walk down to the first floor. Arin started to walk down to the first floor, missing Dan's response as he started to open the horse stables. "Do you think that this is allegorical for our on situation?" Arin called, looking up and seeing Danny by the cement mixer.

"No, not at all," Dan deadpanned.

"If only we were horses, it would be so easy to get released," Arin sighed dreamily. Once he made sure the horses were out he unlocked the barn door, peaking out to make sure the old couple weren't seeing anything. Then he made his way up to Danny to help him push the mixer down. "We're doing this in the name of friendship!" Arin yelled, pushing the mixer without realizing that Dan wasn't pushing it. They paused, counted to three and pushed it together, Arin yelling 'friendship!' in a lower voice.

The cement mixer fell to the ground, creating a loud bang that even scared Danny a bit. The horses neighed and ran out, swinging the barn doors open as they left.

"What in the hell?" Arin mocked the husband's assumed reaction in an old man voice.

"What in the dig dang gobble?" Dan laughed.

"Doo diddly ding dang doo, doo, doo!" Arin exclaimed, throwing his hands in the air. They made their way to the door of the barn in time to see the old couple run off. "See, I told you it was a good idea," Arin smiled, knowing he was right.

"Yeah, yeah. Let's steal their clothes now," Dan sighed, following Arin around the house. "Those dang diddly doo horses stole our clothes!" Dan mocked.

"Dang diddly doo - horses - ding dang diddly doo, doo, doo, doo!" Arin laughed. They made their way to the front porch and Arin climbed through the window, looking around the unfamiliar room. "Wow, I love how they decorated this house! It's all so beautiful and well put together and - look at this fridge!" Arin exclaimed, looking inside the fridge for food.

"We're moving in," Dan stated as he climbed through the window.

While Arin looked to see if the couple had beer, Dan looked at what was cooking on the stove. Two sausages, still raw. One of them must have turned off the stove when they left. "This is like the perfect family we always wanted," Arin cooed, standing behind Dan to watch what he was doing. "Screw Alex, we'll make our own Alex," There goes Arin once again thinking Alex was Dan's kid. The joke did make Dan laugh, and he honestly didn't mind. Dan made his way up the stairs in hopes of finding clean clothes but Arin continued to raid the kitchen, making sure to keep Danny updated by yelling about everything he saw, including poisoned cookies that Arin still ate. "You go find some new clothes, I'll help with the dishes a bit!" Arin yelled as he proceeded to clean a dish crudely. Dan heard Arin and shook his head at the man, playing a mini game of dress-up with the different hats the couple owned.

"Those damn horses stole our clothes _and_ did our dishes!" Danny yelled back, putting the hat where he found it. Dan continued to rummage through things, Arin walking upstairs just in time to catch him drawing a mustache on an old picture hung on the wall. Finally, Dan found a walk-in closet. "Let's change our clothes and get out of here, Arin!" Dan reminded as he closed the closet door.

He still heard Arin yell "Let's make our own clothes with this sowing machine!' from the other room, making him laugh. Dan dressed himself in new clothes and even found a shotgun while he was at it, and when he walked out he nearly bumped into Arin. Arin walked in after him, reminding Dan to not peek when he closed the door.

Danny burst out laughing when he saw Arin walk out in a dress, asking if he looked beautiful. Dan agreed that yes, Arin did look beautiful but it was probably too eye-catching for him to wear while on the run. When Arin went back in the closet to change Dan couldn't help but wonder how he got stuck working with this man. But even more alarmingly, he wondered how he managed to come to enjoy his childish presence, even to the point where he could actually call him a friend.

But due to his past with Mark, he came to realize that he couldn't have friends while being a criminal. Arin was nothing more than a partner he would eventually ditch, right?

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have come to realize that I just hate everything I write - got to be honest, though, chapter eleven sparked something in me that made me write until 5 am, now to just hope that what I wrote was semi-coherent.  
> Sorry for the awkward ending in this chapter, but I had to space this out so I can fit everything in the next chapter without it being either too long or too short (Unless I wanted to end it mid action scene)  
> Thank you for reading! You're all appreciated!


	11. This Will Take Our Wagon To Oregon!

Arin reluctantly went back in and changed into some more regular clothes and they continued on, hoping to find a vehicle somewhere. Arin wandered up to a building with large sliding doors that looked like it could have a car in it and got Danny to help him move the doors. When they looked up they did in fact see a truck, and it was in okay condition.

"It's not that bad!" Arin smiled, patting the hood of the car and getting dust on his hand.

"Not that bad. It even comes with a missing wheel!" Dan said, waving a hand towards the empty spot.

"Eh, we'll find one somewhere," Arin dismissed Dan but Dan didn't seem convinced. "Look, it beats walking on foot, right?" Dan sighed dramatically and rolled his eyes at that, walking off to look for the spare tire. They grabbed some tools they found helpful, including a pinch bar and a lug wrench and met back up at the truck, placing the tools on the ground halphazardly. Now they just needed to find the tire. Easier said than done, apparently, because they walked around the whole barn and found nothing.

"I guess we need to give up, then," Arin stated, shrugging as he walked up stairs.

"Hey, I found one," Arin looked over to see Dan taking a small wooden wheel off the wall. "This will take our wagon to Oregon," He exclaimed proudly and put it back on the wall. Arin huffed but became much more interested in a contraption on the wall.

"What's this...?" He asked to himself, pulling on the rope and finding that it was a pulley contraption, and that when he pulled on the rope a large hook went across the barn. "Hey, I think you need to grab on to this," Arin called, looking over to see Dan already walking up to meet him.

"What do you mean?"

"The hook," Arin pointed at the hook on the roof. "Grab onto it and I'll take you across to the other side of the barn," Dan made a confirming sound and walked up to it, jumping to grab on. Once he got comfortable Arin started to take him across.

"Weee! I'm having fun, Arin!" Dan yelled, making sure to stare directly at the roof and not at the floor. He waited until the pulley stopped for him to look down, and was thankful to see that he was at the other side of the barn. He fell down, looking back up at the hook he just held on to. "Quite the police system they developed in this barn, huh?"

If Arin responded Dan didn't hear it, so he just continued on, quickly noticing a pile of tires. He pushed the top one aside and grabbed the next one, which seemed like it would fit the car. He threw the wheel down the ledge and then himself, meeting up with Arin once again at the car.

Dan wordlessly took the job of holding the car up with a pinch bar wedged between a stump, groaning as he had to put a fair amount of his weight on it to keep the back of the car in the air. Arin attached the wheel and backed away just in time for Dan to let go of the pinch bar, hissing and waving his hands in the air.

Danny watched Arin grab a lug wrench and stood beside him as Arin tightened the bolts and whined about the work. "Good, now we just need to raise the car again and remove the support from under it," Arin stated, looking at the wheel and hoping it stayed on. It seemed on tight enough, but you could never be sure.

"Like this?" Dan asked, grabbing onto the pinch bar and putting his weight on it once again, the car raising. Arin quickly reached down and grabbed a large piece of wood that was holding the car up, making sure to get out of the way before Dan dropped the car again. He faintly connected Dan holding the car up to Dan stopping the fan back in the prison, not having any time to dwell on it before Dan was talking again. "Good, the car has four wheels," He leaned against the back of the car. "I'll push it from here and you go to the front and push." It took Arin a moment to realize what Dan said but when it got to his brain he agreed and walked around the car to the drivers side, opening the door and getting into a pushing position.

They counted to three and started pushing. "We'll push this to freedom!" Arin exclaimed. Just as he finished the sentence the car started to roll down the hill. "What happened?"

"It rolled,"

"Did you let go?"

"No, did you let go?"

"No -" Dan paused. "Who even cares? It rolled a bit. Let's just go get it," With that he started to walk down the hill, assuming Arin would follow.

"Fuck, it rolled a bit! We're screwed!" Arin yelled, walking down the hill faster than Danny. He went to get into the drivers seat but paused and instead opened the gas tank. Peering in, there was no scent or hint that there was any gas in it for a while. "Oh my god!" Arin cried. "Now we need to find gas!" He looked around and saw jumper cables deserted on a tractor. "And we also need to restart the battery, remember these for later!" Arin called to Dan.

"I'll look for propane... or something..." Dan trailed off, walking around the light grass in hopes for finding a gas canister and Arin untangled the jumper cables, looking up to find a sliding door to the garage the tractor was under. He called Dan and opened the door, revealing what looked like a small workshop and, you guessed it, a gas canister.

"Hey, we found one! And it still has some gas in it," Arin glowed, picking up the blue gas canister. He paused for a moment and made a farting noise with his mouth.

"Good one, Arin," Dan rolled his eyes and walked back to the car, Arin following and chuckling at his own joke. "I'll keep watch on this plant while you do that," Danny muttered walking up to a tall weed at the side of the garage and staring at it, petting it gently.

"Alright," Arin sighed. "Let's get this thing started and get out of here before the old couple come back," Dan complied and walked to the car, reaching into the drivers seat to turn it on and wonders of all wonders... it worked!

"Damn, this piece of junk actually turned on!" Dan raised his eyebrows, stepping back to look at the battered truck.

"I told you so. You just need a bit of faith. See, that's an inspirational message -"

"Oh shit!" Dan all but screamed, pushing Arin behind the truck as he saw the old man run out of the house with a handgun, yelling and cursing. They hid behind the car, waiting to see if the man would actually shoot. When they heard the first gunshot they jumped up. "Let's go! You drive!" Dan called, running to the passengers seat but instead deciding to jump in the back of the truck, just barely avoiding a bullet. For his old age, the man had good aim.

They drove out, multiple gunshots echoing around them but none actually hitting the truck and Dan took back what he thought earlier about the man having good aim. He didn't have time to think, because they were on the road and police sirens were already being heard in the distance. The old couple must have called the police.

"Can't this piece of shit go any faster?" Dan called, hoping to get Arin's attention.

"Oh, yeah, it can! Sorry, I had it in slow gear!" Arin called back sarcastically. Dan sighed and kneeled down, pulling his gun from where it was slung behind his shoulder. There was only a moment of no action before Arin sped up and they ran onto a highway, the police suddenly right behind them. Danny swore and started to shoot, nearly falling over when Arin drove off the road and a police car collided with the side of the truck.

"What are you doing? Shoot them!" Arin screamed, his voice two octaves higher than usual. Dan didn't respond and instead screamed, firing the gun in a random direction. The screaming did nothing to help and instead made it worse, as Arin drove completely off course to avoid a police car driving in front of them. They came to a full stop, and Danny thought they were done. He looked around for a quick way to run but there was none. He put the gun down and slowly raised his arms in the air, glaring at the police officers getting out of the car. That was until he felt a lurch and the car was in motion again, Arin booking it to get out. Danny nearly fell out of the car and grabbed onto his gun again, the mood changing in a matter of seconds.

"Sorry for my driving skills being sub-par!" Arin called at Dan, followed by the car horn honking. "I also have a horn!" Arin yelled.

"Oh fuck!" Dan swore as the police cars rammed into the truck, trying everything to get them to stop. He heard Arin scream, causing him to scream as well, shaking his head periodically in a fruitless attempt to get the hair out of his face. "They're so mean!" Danny whined, shooting one and shattering the windshield. He had no idea where they were going due to him watching the back of the car, and hoped Arin was taking them the right way.

"I know, right! We're trying to get away from you!" Arin stopped his horn to focus on driving, both of them screaming when a police car rammed against them. "Oh, fuck! Single lane!" Arin called, and Dan watched the lanes go from a full road to one lane.

"That's good! We're in good shape!" Danny called, watching the cops have a hard time getting through. Just as he thought the coast was clear they went back to a double lane, more police cars entering from the side roads. "Fresh cops!" Dan yelled, continuing to shoot.

"They've been freshly plucked!" Dan laughed and wondered how they could be making humor out of a situation like this, where both of their lives were at stake. Dan was leaning fully on the back of the truck to aim easily when suddenly Arin made a sharp turn and the back fell off. Dan tried to regain his balance but it was too late and he fell out of the truck, grabbing onto the end by his hands. "What happened? Are you okay?" Arin called, feeling his heart jump more than it already has been when he looked back and didn't see Danny in the back.

"Oh, I'm just fine!" Dan yelled with as much sarcasm as he could muster, attempting to pull himself back up. After a few moments he did, and he climbed on the truck, still holding for stability. He pulled the back back on the car and grabbed his gun which somehow didn't fall out, reloading it to shoot. Just as he did that more cop appeared right behind the car, somehow waiting. How many cops did this place have? Dan shot a few, losing his aim when Arin made a small leap from off the rocks. Dan's heart was beating against his chest, his chest heaving as he looked around frantically. Adrenaline wasn't his thing.

Arin took a turn back on the road, but instead they were driving into a tunnel. "There are so many cops!" Dan yelled, shooting another one in hopes of getting them to back off. The police cars seemed to get farther away but Dan still saw countless normal cars pass by, most damaged. "I'm starting to think we might not be the good guys!" Dan called off-handily.

"What? No!"

"We're hurting a lot of people here!" Dan called, shooting another police car as they caught up.

"You gotta do what you gotta do!" Arin responded.

Dan shook his head. "You know what? I never thought of it like that!" Dan felt pressure in his throat from yelling but it was the least of his worries. They left the tunnel, and he was still blindly trusting Arin not to get them killed.

"The road's gonna get bumpy!" Arin warned as they drove off-road once again, this time filled with more jumps and rocks meant for a slower, leisurely drive.

"I can't shoot when you drive like an ass!" Dan yelled, losing his aim as Arin swerved. He heard Arin scream, and they were jumping once again, this time Arin running into boulders instead of the road. Dan ducked and covered his head and soon they were continuing.

"Woo!" Arin cheered. His joy quickly got cut off when he saw the end to the dirt road ahead. "Oh shit!"

And they were jumping. Dan barely processed what was happening, barely seeing how they jumped over the regular road and back onto the dirt one, the police starting to lag behind.

"Are you okay back there?" Arin asked once again, going too fast to look back.

"What do you think? You drive like a fucking idiot!" Dan yelled. It was only a few seconds before they were swerving all over the place, the sound of wheels popping filling the air and Dan realized the police set up spikes. Dan dropped his gun in his lap to hold onto the edges of the tuck because they were falling off a rocky cliff, the car getting caught on some boulders. He heard the police yell something about them being under arrest and it almost made Dan laugh - yeah, sure we are.

"You okay?" Arin asked, jumping out of the drivers seat. Dan pulled himself out of the truck, yelling "Yeah, let's go!"

"We're much faster on foot!" Arin called, running into the river and having Dan follow. It was sickening to realize that Arin's sarcasm was right - they were on foot, running from god knows how many police cars. They continued to run on a trail, gun shots becoming background noise. Up ahead Dan spotted a canoe.

"Look, a rowboat!" Arin called, seeing the boat as well.

"Quick, a tiny canoe!" Dan echoed. They worked together to push the boat off the sand and into the water, jumping on easily.

"They'll never catch us at speeds of two!" Arin laughed as they started to row down the stream.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm really bad at spacing out scenes in chapters. I was planning on re-writing a few parts of this chapter just because I was unhappy with it but I decided not to. Fun fact, none of this (Or any of my stories) are re-written at all. The only changes from the original writing is fixing grammar errors, which happen a lot. To be honest, I don't even re-read my writing until ten minutes before I post it, so this is all sleepy rambles from 3am. That's probably the reason for the plot holes and crazy writing.  
> Thank you for reading! It means a lot to me to see all the views and comments!


	12. It's Exclusively Rough Streams

"Ahh, it's so peaceful here," Dan sighed. "Why don't we do this more often?" It was no longer than ten minutes after the chase, and somehow the police lost them. Dan looked around, seeing currents ahead. "Where does this river take us?" He asked, looking behind him at Arin.

"No idea, but the further away, the better," There was a pause. "Hey, look, the police running along the river beside us," Arin joked.

"Actually they're just walking. Slowly walking," Dan corrected, still taking a side glance to make sure there was no other human life. "Hey, let's start rowing. We need to get somewhere," Dan said, starting to row again. He leaned to the right while Arin leaned to the left, attempting to row consistently with each other. Dan saw something other than water move out of the corner of his eye, making him look back for a moment. "Hey, Arin. I thought I saw something in the water," Dan informed.

"Probably a shark," Arin said casually, rowing harder to avoid the edge of the river before going back to a normal pace.

Dan knew Arin was joking, but he couldn't help but look back. "You think so?"

"No, I don't think so. It's a river, Dan. Sharks can't live in rivers," Arin said with sarcasm dripping off his words.

"Actually, there's a type of shark that can be found in rivers. I think it's a bull shark or something," Danny retaliated.

Arin huffed. "Don't tell me you're afraid of sharks, too,"

"They're monsters of the deep, Arin!" Dan yelled. "They're at the top of the food chain, they have, like, seventy-eight too many teeth, I have a right to be afraid of them!" Dan was going to continue before Arin screamed, and Dan realized they were running into a boulder. They hit it lightly and continued on with no visible damage to... anything, really.

"Hey, Arin?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you think there are any bears in these woods?"

Arin rolled his eyes. "There are probably bears in these waters." He noticed the tides getting rougher but didn't say anything about it, instead changing the topic. "This is better than tubing!"

"This is better than Toobin'. You mean Toobin' the 1985 video game?"

Arin said "Oh yeah," even though he had no idea what video game Dan was talking about. They luckily didn't continue the conversation because they were going down a small fall, the boat bouncing slightly. "There's some rough streams up ahead," Arin decided to point out as the boat rocked some more, water spraying up at the two of them.

"It's all rough streams. Exclusively rough streams," Dan said, making Arin laugh. "Don't worry, as long as we're on this piss-end boat made of matchsticks, we should be fine," Dan joked, flinching as another splash of water hit them. By now both of their clothes were nearly fully soaked.

The water evened out a bit, the boat still rocking slightly but the worst of the rocks and waves left behind them. With a moments' hesitation, Arin said "I think we've gotten past the worst of it. Just smooth sailing from here,"

"Yeah, to a waterfall," Dan muttered sarcastically, looking in front of him to see not an actual waterfall, thank God, but a steep ride down a bit. "Oh boy..."

"Hey, that looks like fun!" suddenly the water was pulling them forward and into the drop, Arin cheering and Dan screaming and holding onto the sides of the boat with his paddle in his lap.

"Yeah, did you see that?" Dan smiled, a small rush of adrenaline rushing over him as he realized that this wasn't far off from a water amusement park ride.

"What, our lives flash before our eyes?" Arin asked, but he was cut off by Danny repeatedly chanting his name, and he realized that they were heading right for a boulder, and Arin needed to paddle. He paddled as hard as he could, listening to Dan yell "Paddle, damnit!"

"Alright, Danny. _Go make me a sandwich, Arin_ " Arin mocked, rolling his eyes but catching sight of another drop only a few feet ahead. "Waterfall, waterfall!" Arin suddenly yelled, pulling his paddle up to brace himself. Danny did the same just in time as the boat fell, enough water splashing for their hair to be sufficiently yet, including Dan's jew-fro.

"Is that code for something?" Dan joked once the water cleared up. They didn't have much time to talk because they were quickly going down another much larger waterfall, nearly losing control of the boat. Dan heard Arin yell to steer left, but he had his hair stuck on his face, in his mouth and in his eyes. Once he pulled it all away he barely had time to look before they were running into a boulder, this time damaging the boat heavily.

Dan started to apologize but Arin cut him off. "Oh, sweet, a cave!" He exclaimed, acting as if the currents in the water weren't terrifying in the slightest. Dan was trying not to scream as they entered the cave, the darkness making it harder to see. Dan blinked against the darkness in contrast from the bright light before. "Turn please! Oh... Ahh! Oh, God!" Arin screamed, making Dan flinch and start rowing. They both screamed at the top of their lungs and just barely missed the wall of the cave.

They were laughing until they ran into another boulder. The boat was out of control due to the currents and worst of all, Dan could hear the loud roar of a waterfall ahead. Rocks filled the path, making it impossible to go through, and the boat was already breaking. "We should go, we - we should leave!" Dan stuttered, finding his opportunity to jump onto the land as the boat hit rocks. He ducked and rolled a bit, scratching his arm from the rough rocky trail. That was the least of his concerns because he quickly heard Arin's yells, and realized that Arin wasn't with him. He quickly got up, nearly tripping over himself to race against the boat. It was too late, though, and the boat went toppling over the edge... or not?

"Arin?" Dan screamed, watching with wide eyes as the boat got caught on rocks right by the mouth of the waterfall. "Arin you stupid bitch, I'm coming!" Dan ran to the edge of the waterfall and reached out his hand, grateful to see that Arin was holding on to the boat. Arin's eyes caught Dan's, and he started to shimmy across to grab Dan's hand, the water rocking the boat with every wave. After what felt like hours of terror, Arin was finally close enough to grab Dan's hand. He got a grip with his right hand on the boat and reached out, grabbing onto Dan's hand just to lose the grasp and fall along with the boat. The water rushed in his ears so loud he didn't hear what Dan yelled, but instead put all his energy into grabbing onto the boat again, which fell down to a lower rock. Now he was hanging by one hand on a boat make from light wood so close to breaking that every time Arin went to grab on a piece fell off. When Arin got at least somewhat coherent from the adrenaline rocking his veins he saw Dan once again at the ledge a bit higher up, yelling and holding his hand out. Arin slowly but surely made his way up the boat, pieces of wood falling if he grabbed too hard. He was only inches away when the boat fell. Arin leaped from where he was standing, grabbing onto Dan's hand with a tight grip and hitting the rocks hard, knocking the air out of him. Luckily Danny was stronger than he looked, and pulled Arin up to the ledge safely. They both fell down on the ledge, Dan attempting to calm down from just thinking he saw his friend die and Arin trying to catch his breath.

Once Arin could breathe again he looked up at Dan, who was standing up. "Look at us, just a couple of cards," He smiled, panting. They both burst out laughing, and at that moment it felt like nothing else mattered except for Arin and Dan and their near-death experiences held together with badly (Or amazingly) timed jokes.

 

"You're sure you're okay?" Dan asked again, looking back at Arin.

"Yeah, mom," Arin retorted. "Other than, y'know, the fact I nearly died and I can already feel my abdomen bruising,"

Dan didn't answer that and continued walking, stopping when they went up to a ledge. Arin stood next to him, the two looking at the view. "Remember when you almost died?" Danny whispered in a dreamy tone.

"Uh, yeah," Arin deadpanned, making both of them giggle. They fell into silence and watched the view, both knowing they had the same things on their minds.

"So, what's next?" Danny spoke up, looking over at his partner. Arin turned to face him, smiling.

"Well, I'm glad you asked," He said in a deep voice to make Dan laugh. Dan snorted but didn't give Arin the response he was expecting.

"Look, I know what you're thinking, but going after Mark isn't easy," Dan said.

"I know, but I'm going after him, with or without you," Arin stated again, his humorous tone melting away so fast it nearly surprised Dan.

"Do you want to end up dead?" Dan asked in response to Arin saying he'd go without him.

"I want Mark gone. He's a cold-blooded killer. The world would be a better place without him," Arin looked at Dan in the eyes but didn't keep his gaze for long, looking down at the ground and finding a boulder to sit on. "You never told me, what's your story with Mark?"

"He was my drug dealer for a long while. Not anything hard - just pot, although he made me try some other shit before. Anyway, before I got busted, me and Mark made a huge score,"

"Bank job?" Arin piped in.

"Nah. Have you ever heard of the Black Orlov?" Dan asked.

"Wait, the diamond? How the hell did you do that?"

"A lot of planning and some luck. He knew what he was doing. We even had a buyer. Too bad that greedy fuck had other ideas,"

 

_There was a large area, enclosed enough that it could barely be seen from the public eye, yet seen enough that there was little worry of suspicious activity. A car was parked there, a man with wavy black hair and a button up shirt sitting on the hood, holding on to a briefcase safely. Just then, another car pulled up and parked a few feet away from the man. Dan came out of the passengers side of the car, followed by Mark from the drivers side._

_"It's all there, count it," The man said, handing Dan over the briefcase. Dan walked back towards Mark, opening the briefcase and checking it before snapping it shut again. He nodded and Mark and traded briefcases with him before walking back to the man. "Of course it's there, you can trust me," The man with the wavy hair said._

_"I'm not trusting anybody here," Dan said, attempting to keep his cool. Mark talked to him about how he needed to act casual beforehand, and Dan found it hard to do in such a tense situation. Dan kept his breath even as he opened the briefcase he was holding, showing the Black Orlov. Dan felt compelled to look back at Mark while the man looked at the jewel, but he didn't, instead keeping his dominant posture up. After a few moments the man smiled and went to take the briefcase from Dan. "Pleasure doing business with you," He smiled._

_Suddenly a loud bang reverberated throughout the workshop, and before Dan could react the man he was dealing with fell to the ground with a bullet hole in his head._

_"Give me the case!" Mark roared._

_"What the fuck, Mark!?" Dan all but screamed, his cool mask being ripped off. His shoulder hunched up slightly and he pulled in on himself, staring wide-eyed at Mark._

_"Give me the fucking case, Dan. Hand it over now," Mark demanded, and the gun was aimed at Dan. "It's nothing personal, just business." Dan was shaking and he knew it, maybe acting up his fear just a bit as he slowly walked towards Mark and handed him the case. In a split-second Dan reached for the gun to grab it from Mark's hands, but Mark was faster, He shoved Leo to the ground and ran with the Black Orlov, jumping into the car and making a quick U-turn to escape. When Dan stood up the car was going right for him. He attempted to jump out of the way but hit the car as Mark escaped._

 

"Next thing you know, I'm surrounded by cops," Dan sighed.

"That's rough. I'm sorry," Arin muttered, looking from his hands clasped between his knees to Dan who was standing next to him.

"No, he's the one who's going to be sorry. I'm making things right, for me and my career," Dan said, feeling a bit better knowing he had somebody who even somewhat cared for his story. The police sure didn't.

Arin was quiet for a moment. "Do you have any idea where Mark is now?" He asked.

"I know one of his guys, Wade. He'll know for sure,"

There was silence again. Arin knew he shouldn't say it, he knew it was a serious moment, but he said it anyway. "Well Mark... He cut in front of me in line at the DDR machine," Arin said in a fully serious tone. "My token was CLEARLY on the machine!"

They both burst into laughter, and Arin was glad Dan didn't take it the wrong way. "He was a real asshole, took his shirt off while dancing," Dan giggled.

"He played Max 300... triple A," Arin stated. "I tried to one-up him with Legend of Max, but I couldn't even get past the first part. That's my story with him," They both laughed until it died down to giggles, took one look at each other and started to laugh again. Eventually they quieted down, a smile still plastered on both of their faces. Arin stood up from the rock, clasping his hands together. "So? What are we waiting for?" He asked.

Dan raised an eyebrow at him. "You really want to take Mark down, huh?"

Arin shrugged. "Like I said, with or without you, man. I'm going after him,"

There was a long moment of silence, like Dan was evaluating Arin. Arin wouldn't judge him, saying last time he worked with a guy it was Mark and he nearly got shot. "Okay," Dan finally said.

"Okay?" Arin echoed.

"Finding Wade will be easy, but I need to make sure Brian and Alex are okay, first. I promised to let him know once I got out," Danny said, looking off of the cliff. It was obvious Brian and Alex were the closest things he had to family, and that they were the only ones Danny could trust.

Arin nearly wanted to tell Dan not to get caught up with personal connections, but he remembered how much he missed Suzy and instead said, "Yeah, totally,"

"Alright then, I'm going to take a piss and then we can get going,"

Arin watched Dan walk away into the forest for privacy and smiled slightly, running a hand through his still-damp hair.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I totally forgot that the Black Orlov was a thing until now, and that whole second part of the chapter was written while I internally screamed. If you search up "Winging it" in the dictionary it will lead you to this fanfic (And my entire life, honestly). Oh well, it's an adventure I'm willing to go on.  
> Thanks for reading! Comments truly do make my day, so thank you!


	13. Ah, Domestic Abuse

 

_Brian was standing in the pasta isle of the grocery store, picking up different boxes of Kraft Dinner and reading the labels. "Hey, Alex," He looked over at the boy standing next to him in a green shirt. "You said you liked the white cheddar, right?" Alex agreed and Brian put the box he was holding in the grocery basket. He looked at Alex, who was spinning in circles around the isle with his arms stretched out. "Thanks for being so patient today, kid. How about you go to the candy aisle and get a treat for yourself?" Brian suggested, watching Alex's face light up. "Go on, just don't tell your mom." With that Alex ran off, yelling a quick "Thanks uncle Brian!" as he ventured into the next isle. The nickname 'uncle' Alex came up with made Brian smile. Neither him nor Danny were related to the boy, but the kid was at their house so much it almost felt like it, due to his mother working._

_Brian was looking through the isle for spaghetti when he heard Alex yell "Uncle Brian!"_

_He quickly walked up to the next isle where Alex was standing with a large newspaper in his hands. "What is it?" Brian asked, walking up to the kid. Alex lowered the paper enough that Brian could see the crestfallen look in his eyes and it made him worry even more. Alex stared at the paper for a moment before stuffing it into Brian's hands and running off to the other side of the grocery store. Brian quickly unfolded the rumpled paper to see what Alex saw and froze when he saw Dan's face on the front page, right under the title 'Fugitives At Large'._

_"Shit," Brian swore, looking up to see that Alex was nowhere to be seen. "Alex?"_

 

_Dan and Arin were in the cramped space of the helicopter, both taking the comfortable silence between them to think about their mission and what's ahead. "Hey, Danny," Arin spoke up, looking up and catching eye contact with Dan. "Can I ask you something personal?"_

_Dan shrugged. "Yeah, sure," He responded smoothly._

_"How... how do you manage to keep relationships up, with, like, Brian and Alex for example, in this line of work?" Arin asked._

_Dan shrugged once again, clasping his hands between his thighs. "Me and Brian, we've always been together. He knows me and my limits better than I know myself," Dan paused. "I was one rent payday away from being homeless. One of our mutual friends hooked us up and we hit it off," Dan smiled. "He helped me get my life together. Taught me that music was more important than drugs, got me talking to my dad after several years of no connection, fuck, he let me move in with him. It's always been us against the world, and it still is,"_

_Arin nodded, thinking about what Dan said. "Good for you, man," Arin finally said, and he was being completely genuine._

 

Dan and Arin climbed over a wire fence surrounding a trailer park, and a trashy one at that. A trailer park so bad that anyone could easily climb over the fence, as the two just did. The large sign did say that there were low rates, though.

"Let's keep a lookout for Brian and Alex, okay? Brian should be babysitting him," Dan spoke up as they both walked away from the fence. "You've seen Brian, Alex is a kid roughly this size," Danny brought up his hand in front of his torso.

"You don't know where they live?" Arin asked.

"Brian moved while I was inside. Come on, it's a small place," Danny waved his hand and started to walk around.

"We'll find them," Arin responded. "Wow, this is a really good place. Roof over your head, plywood for windows."

"Oh, mister fancy-pants with his college degree and a banking job," Dan huffed, rolling his eyes.

Arin started to walk his own separate way, still managing to reply with "I guess that didn't get me anywhere, saying I'm stuck here with you," Arin cringed when he watched a woman push a man out of their trailer, yelling and screaming about cheating. He jogged to catch up with Dan, who seemed to know the place well by how he was walking around. "We should get Bluetooth earphones so we can, like, talk to each other anywhere," Arin mentioned, kicking a pebble in the dirt. Danny huffed and walked up to a man sitting on the ground, either on drugs or homeless - maybe both. Dan knelt down to his level and started talking to him, Arin waiting patiently and listening to Danny ask about Brian and Alex. After a bit of getting no response, Danny stood up and continued on his way.

"Did he say anything?" Arin asked.

"Yeah. Apparently he thought I was a jerk just 'cause I'm an escaped fugitive," Dan joked, looking over at Arin.

Arin scoffed. "What a dick," He looked up to see two people practicing baseball, one throwing and the other hitting it. "Hey, let's play baseball!" Arin proceeded to talk to the man with the baseball bat, asking if he could have a go. The man was kind and agreed, handing the bat to Arin.

"I'll catch," Dan said, standing directly in front of Arin. They laughed and Dan walked off to the side, watching the other man throw a ball and Arin's delayed reaction to it. After that first swing Arin got the hang of it, hitting the next two balls with encouragement from Danny. After a few more hits (And a couple more misses that Arin would like to admit), Dan walked off, looking to see if anybody nearby saw Brian.

Danny found a man working on a car. After getting his attention Dan repeated his question of "Have you happened to see a man in his early forties and with a kid, roughly this tall?"

"Oh, yeah. I've seen them. He's that single dad with his kid, right?"

Dan hesitated. "Well, actually, I'm his close friend. We just babysit our neighbor's kid. He's not a dad," Danny explained. The man hummed and slowly nodded, looking at him with a weary expression.

"Oh, well in that case, I'm pretty sure they live down that way," The man pointed down the road. "Y'know, there's nothing wrong with a kid having two dads. I mean, it's better than the poor guy being an orphan," The man proposed, shrugging slightly.

Dan heard Arin snort from behind him but decided to ignore it. "We're not - uhh, Brian and I are just friends, man. That kid's got a nice family. Thanks for the info, though," Dan nodded politely and went on his way, letting the man continue on his project.

Arin hopped up next to him, smiling. "So does everyone in this place think you and Brian are fucking or...?"

"Come on, man, really? I don't want to visualize that," Danny groaned. "It's not like we... act gay, or anything." Arin was going to comment on that, but they both saw a woman sitting in front of her house with a baseball bat in hand. With a silent agreement they both walked up to her.

"You look upset," Arin pointed out.

The woman's face turned to a deeper scowl. "Oh, I am. I'm waiting for my goddamn husband. I'm gonna beat his ass!"

Arin raised an eyebrow. "Why is that?"

"He's cheating on me! Nobody cheats on Martha!"

Arin looked over at Dan, and they knew that they had the same idea of how crazy this woman seemed. "Are you sure that he cheated?" Dan piped in.

"Of course! I can smell when people are cheating on me!"

Arin hummed. "That's quite the talent. I'll keep an eye out for him, then," With that, Arin continued on his way with Dan, making sure to point out everyone he sees and asking if they're Brian. After a few minutes of walking around aimlessly they decided to split up, just to find themselves a few feet away from each other moments later.

Dan watched Arin talk to a man just outside of the park Dan was in. The park was dusty and the swings barely looked together. Even though it seemed like a ghost park, Danny remembered how Alex loved it. That place was his and Alex's designated 'Knights and Dragons' play place, AKA Alex (The knight) chases Dan (The dragon) with a pool noodle. Dan looked up to see Arin in front of him, looking down at the same two-person swing that Dan was in front of. Somehow Dan thought Arin was getting on and Arin thought Dan was getting on, because they both sat down on the slightly-too-small swing, grabbing onto the handlebars like little kids.

"What the hell are we doing?" Dan asked, looking Arin in the eyes.

"I don't know. You sat down first," Arin muttered.

Dan failed at hiding the smile that grew on his face. "No I didn't"

"Yes you did," Arin smiled as well, forcing Dan to make eye contact with him the entire conversation.

Dan was going to say something, but he paused, something in Arin's gaze giving him an idea. Staring directly into Arin's brown eyes he kicked the ground, causing both of them to start swinging. Arin's eyes briefly switched to surprise when the swing moved, along with a loud squeaking noise. Arin started to laugh when he realized what was going on, his eyes crinkling up as he lost the eye contact. Dan started to laugh, too, slowing down the swing and getting off at the same time as Arin. They both continued to chuckle as they walked out of the park, only stopping when they heard overly loud moans coming from the trailer next to them.

Dan and Arin looked at each other with wide eyes. "Do you... do you think that's Martha's husband?" Arin asked.

A look of realization hit Danny's face. "You think we should tell her?"

Arin thought for a moment. "You keep looking for Brian, I'll go tell her real quick, alright?"

Dan agreed and they walked off in opposite directions. Dan looked around, the feeling of worry that he won't be able to find Brian and Alex slowly filling his stomach. Suddenly, a movement caught his eye. He looked over the edge of where he was, and a little below was a kid walking around in some property... a kid that looked like Alex. Dan smiled brightly and turned around to see if he could see Arin, but he was somewhere else. He thought about looking for him, but he realized that Arin would find him quickly, anyway, so he started to figure out a way to get down. After realizing he needed Arin's help to move some garbage out of the way he turned around, hoping to find Arin.

They quickly ran into each other again. Arin walked up to Dan, wiping his hands together. "Ah, domestic abuse," Arin smiled.

Danny smiled back, but quickly changed the conversation. "Hey, I saw Alex just down there," Dan pointed out and even Arin's eyes lit up.

"Well then let's go find your fucking son!" Arin cheered, and Dan didn't even want to correct Arin. They walked down some stairs and worked together to push a dumpster over, creating a good view of the lot.

Dan's eyes instantly went to Brian, who was standing next to a motorcycle. "Hey, Brian!" Dan called.

Brian looked up, a smile growing. "Danny! Hey!" He started to walk towards Dan when he heard a car pull up in the driveway. He looked over and internally groaned when he saw the cops. A quick whistle and a nod of his head told Danny that there were cops nearby, and Dan told the information to Arin. Both Arin and Dan ducked behind the fence, looking through the cracks.

"Hey, is your husband behind that fence over there?" Arin asked in his generic guard voice. "Actually no, we're just friends. Even though everyone thinks we fuck,"

Danny huffed but stayed quiet, eavesdropping on the conversation. Brian shut the cops up quick, repeating the fact that he was busy on a tight schedule and that he didn't know where Dan was. Danny waited for the cops to drive off before coming out from their hiding spot, motioning for Arin to follow.

They jumped off the ledge they were on and Dan walked up to Brian, the two of them hugging without hesitation.

"You okay?" Brian asked, releasing from the hug with a pat on Dan's back.

"Yeah, yeah. You?"

Brian nodded. "Good. Hey, Alex! Come see who's here!"

Danny's smile only widened when he saw Alex, quickly kneeling down to hug him. It nearly broke his heart when Alex only stared for a moment before running off into the house.

Brian could see the hurt in Dan's eyes and came up beside him. "Don't worry, Danny. He's just a little upset. He... He saw you in the papers," Brian said. He patted Dan's back again before nodding at Arin, who stood a bit back. "So, who's this guy?"

"This is Arin," Dan said, turning a bit to include him. Brian and Arin traded quick greetings before Brian turned back to Dan.

"Hey, you're going to need to talk to Alex," Brian mentioned. Dan nodded and turned to walk to the house, hearing Arin really introduce himself to Brian as he walked up the steps. Danny looked around the place, trying to find familiar things, such as Brian's laptop and Alex's toys. The fact that there was no NSP stuff disappointed him for a moment before he realized that they were on hiatus. He decided not to think about how him being a wanted criminal would impact their band and instead looked for Alex, quickly finding him in Brian's room.

"Hey, Alex -"

"Leave me alone!" Alex cried, swiftly opening the window and leaving. Danny held his breath for a moment after the kid ran off, Alex's tree house just visible from where Dan was sitting. He looked at a drawing Alex drew on the wall of Dan, Brian and Alex an after a moment of hesitation he took it, stuffing it in his inner coat pocket. Dan needed something to keep him going, after all.

When Dan walked out of the trailer he saw Brian and Arin throwing darts, Brian mentioning something about Dan that Danny didn't hear. The curly-haired man walked past them without a word, on a mission to be on good grounds with Alex. He passed through a wire fence and walked towards the tree house, remembering when he built the house with Alex, back when Alex was probably only four or five.

Danny went to climb the ladder but Alex wordlessly pulled the ladder up, just out of Dan's reach. "Come on, Alex. Let me up?" No response. Dan sighed and took a step back, trying to figure out what to do. He caught sight of the sign pegged into the ground, walking towards it. "Hey, your sign is broken. Wanna come down and help me fix it?" No response. "No? Alright," Dan went over to the picnic table and grabbed a hammer with plans to fix it himself. He hammered the peg into the ground deep enough so it wouldn't move and put the sign back on. "This sign is beautiful, Alex! You should come down to see it!"

Wonder of all wonders, Dan heard the soft steps of Alex climbing down the ladder. He watched as Alex took a few steps towards him before running up to Danny, hugging him tightly. Dan felt a heat behind his eyes and blinked back tears, hugging Alex just as tight, whispering "I love you, buddy. I love you so much," and Danny wasn't lying. Between his near constantly absent mother and the time spent raising Alex, Dan grew to love the child.

"Do you wanna play basketball?" Alex asked, eyes wide as he looked up at Dan.

"Sure, but you know I'll win," Dan smiled.

"No way! I'll race you down the hill!" Dan and Alex both ran down the hill, Danny letting Alex win just by a bit. When they got to the bottom Arin and Brian were at the other side of the gate.

"You wanna shoot some hoops?" Danny asked, nodding towards Arin.

Arin sighed. He was glad for the fact that Alex forgave Danny, but at the same time the police were still after them. "I'd love to, but we should probably get going..."

Alex made an audible whine. "Just one game? Please?"

Alex was now giving Arin the puppy-dog eyes, so Dan did the same. "Yeah, Ar,"

That's how Arin found himself playing basketball with a slightly-too-deflated basketball that made it hard to bounce. He couldn't deny that watching Danny help Alex shoot made his heart swell with affection for the two of them maybe just a bit more than it should.

 

"You're really good, Alex," Arin praised once they were done their original game of basketball.

"You think?" Alex asked, and the smile on his face made the search for Dan's family worth it in Arin's eyes.

"Of course. You should become a pro!" Arin said. Dan smiled at the two of them and looked away for a moment, seeing Brian by the gate to the basketball court.

Dan needed to talk to Brian, so he quickly said "I'll be right back," and he walked to the gate, listening to Alex and Arin talk about being the best basketball player ever. "Hey, Bri," Dan said as he walked out of the basketball court.

"Look at that, you two seem to be getting along well," Brian smiled and Dan wasn't sure if Brian was talking about Dan and Alex or Dan and Arin. Either at, Danny agreed.

"Yeah, but we need to get going soon," He said, looking over at Arin who was playing another game with Alex.

"Yup. I'm just glad to see Alex smile again. He was pretty heartbroken after... y'know. Nearly caused a scene in the supermarket," The two of them started to walk towards the house side-by-side, enjoying each other's presence again.

"So is this home now?" Danny asked, waving a hand towards the trailer.

"Not for long. If the police can find us, so can Mark. I'll get moving again soon," Brian said. "Maybe even out of this trailer park,"

"What about Alex?" Dan asked, feeling a small pang of worry for the boy. He was much too young to stay at his house by himself, and Dan didn't trust anybody else in the trailer park to watch him while his mom was out.

"He'll be old enough to take care of himself pretty soon He'll be fine," Brian sighed, obviously sad in the fact that they'd have to say goodbye to Alex. "I taught him how to make Mac-and-Cheese. He'll be making gourmet meals in no time," he joked.

Danny huffed at that. "We're going to have to change bands now that I'm a criminal, huh?" Dan asked.

"I put the YouTube channel on private as soon as you got caught. Maybe if we just delete our videos you can wear a mask like TWRP or something -"

"Brian, think about it. You search up 'Ninja Sex Party' and you get pictures of us. It'll just be best if we make a new band. We can still keep the same idea, though. Edit our costumes slightly. Danny BangSex and Ninjab Ryan?" This time both of them laughed as they walked up the steps to the door.

"We'll worry about that later," Brian concluded, following Dan as they walked inside.

"Hey, do you have any idea where Wade could be?" Dan asked suddenly.

"Wade? What would you want with him?" Brian wrinkled his nose in disgust and sat down on the table.

"I need to talk to him. He knows where Mark is. It's our best shot," Dan reasoned.

Brian hummed, nodding. "I heard he's working at that construction site downtown, I think I saw him there once,"

Dan nodded. "Okay, good. That puts us on the right track," He looked at the fridge where another one of Alex's drawings were, one of what looked like a bear and a bunny with nearly illegible handwriting. "Look, we need to be ready to leave the country as soon as I come back. You think you can do that?"

"Yeah, totally. I'll be prepared. Just... stay safe, alright Danny?"

"Yeah," Dan agreed, but it must have been the wrong thing to say because Brian hit him in the shoulder lightly.

"Don't just say 'yeah'. Come back safe or else I'll kick your ass," Brian threatened. Dan agreed again, and just as he did, he heard Arin and Alex talk from outside. He turned around and walked out, greeting them again.

Dan looked over at Alex and felt a stone in his stomach. He hated saying goodbye, and knowing that they would probably have to leave before he could see him again just made it worse. He knelt down in front of Alex and grabbed his hands. "Look, I have to go now, okay?" He explained, trying to ignore the hurt in Alex's eyes.

"Aww... really? Can't we just play one more game?" Alex asked.

Dan shook his head. "I'm sorry, but next time, I promise. Come give me a hug?" Dan opened his arms wide, wrapping Alex in a bear hug. He wanted for it to stay like that forever. He wanted to go back to making music with Brian and playing games with Alex, before he had to worry about the police as much. Danny didn't want to have to leave everything he loved, but he knew it would happen eventually. "Alright, buddy. Take care of Brian, alright?" Dan smiled as he let go. Alex nodded, running up to Brian.

Dan looked up at Brian and Alex. He had so much more he wanted to say. He wanted to have a weekend with Alex, taking him to the park and playing Knights and Dragons. He wanted to have weekday evenings with Brian, writing lyrics for songs that would never get published and jokes that would never reach the public eye. He wanted to go back to before he worked with Mark and before he got caught by the police, back when they didn't have to worry about their identity being public and Alex growing up too fast. Back when it was him and Brian against the world.

Dan stood up off the ground, looking up at Arin who stayed patient and quiet. He nodded at him, and they started to walk off, Dan quickly feeling for the drawing in his pocket as they walked out of the driveway.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I didn't get this done until Thursday night which left me really stressing out... I WOULD have gotten it done by Wednesday if I didn't spend all night sulking over the fact that Pottermore says I'm a Gryffindor. I am NOT a Gryffindor, I'm a Hufflepuff. Gryffinpuff at best.  
> Anyway, enough of my rambling, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! Thank you for reading, and thank you x2 if you commented, kudos or bookmarked this! It means a lot to me!


	14. They Just Keep Coming, And Coming!

"So you're sure this Wade guy will give us Mark's location?" Arin asked as they got off the bus, walking up to the large construction site.

"He better," Dan said, being in a considerably better mood than he was before, even with the lack of sleep.

"What if he doesn't?" Arin asked as he faced Dan.

Dan slowed to a stop. "I don't know," He shook his head. "He'll know. Trust me," With that he continued walking, Arin only a step behind him.

They went to walk into the construction site but as soon as they stepped foot on the gravel they got stopped by a worker saying, "Hey, hey, hey! Where do you think you're going?"

"Uhh, inside?" Arin mumbled, just low enough for Dan to hear but not the worker.

"We're here to talk to someone. What's the big deal?" Dan asked with a wave to the construction site.

The man seemed ticked off as he said, "What do you think this is, a coffee shop? This is a construction site, you can't just waltz right on in here!"

The two convicts looked at each other, Dan with an annoyed expression and Arin with a passive look that told Dan to back off. Dan turned back to the man, losing Arin's gaze to say, "Yeah, are you going to stop us?" Dan asked with a confidence that only bubbles up in times like these, where he has the chance to be defiant and get his way.

Arin internally sighed and stepped in front of Dan, not ready to start a fight and bring more attention to themselves. "You have to excuse my colleague here, he hasn't had his morning coffee," Arin said quickly before Danny could interrupt. He ignored Dan's glare. "But he is right. We're here to check if this site is up to code,"

The construction worker groaned. "What's up with you guys? Another inspection? You just keep coming, and coming!"

Arin fought back the need to giggle and instead coughed into his hand to keep a straight face. "Yeah, that's how we make sure you're honest," Arin said.

"Well," The construction worker turned around and grabbed two hardhats from the table, handing one to Dan and one to Arin. "There you go,"

Arin muttered a 'thanks' as they started to walk away, Dan deciding to say "You better hope you're building to code, man!" for good measure.

They walked just out of sight, hearing the man whine about inspectors. Dan threw his hardhat to the ground and Arin did the same. "Good job back there," Dan said, looking around the unfamiliar workplace.

"I wish I could say the same to you," Arin responded.

"You could have if you let me do the talking," Dan retorted, following Arin as they walked through the site.

"Yeah, and attract even more attention after you get in a fistfight with that guy?"

Dan hummed at him, unable to argue. He could almost sense Arin's smirk knowing he won their mini-argument. "I never used to be this cocky," Dan mentioned. "I was, like, the sweetest kid ever, according to my dad,"

"Yeah, sure you were," Arin said.

Dan and Arin started to walk down a long wooden bridge separating two parts of the construction site. "Do you think we should have worn those hats for safety?" Dan asked out of the blue while making sure to not look down. If Arin responded Dan didn't hear it, so he just continued and - hey, wasn't he supposed to ditch Arin at some point? Yeah, that was his original plan. In fact, he wasn't supposed to say a word about Mark's presence at all. Danny surprised himself when he shrugged it off easily. Arin was a nice dude, not shady like most people in prison. He let Dan meet Brian and Alex and even shared his story with Mark. Even though Danny swore not to trust anyone affiliated with illegal shit ever again, he couldn't help but trust Arin; In fact, even if he'd never admit it, he considered Arin a friend.

The thought of friendship scared Danny a little, just enough to push him out of his thoughts and back into the real world where Arin was getting the attention of a construction worker. _Oh, and Arin said that DAN would attract attention._

The worker turned off his jackhammer to talk to Arin, but it didn't seem like Arin got anywhere in the conversation. When Dan went up to talk to him the man kept repeating "I can't hear you!" over the loud jackhammer until Dan finally gave up, not letting himself get too irritated.

When he looked up Arin was walking over rocks on the gravel. "Wow, these rocks sure are fun to walk on in circles,"

"Glad you're having a good time," Dan said, just then really feeling the heat from the sun beat down. He wished he had water, but he'd survive.

Dan continued walking around and Arin followed him, quickly getting into another conversation with a man who had an injured back. He was leaning over and holding his back with one hand, so it was pretty easy to tell. Dan on the other hand decided to continue, walking around until he saw a small semi-circle of three or four workers surround two others arm wrestling. He turned around back at Arin, who was walking away from the man with the sore back. Once they caught eye contact Dan nodded over at the table, grinning when he saw Arin smile.

They both walked up to the table and asked for a turn, having to crouch forward slightly to rest their arms on the table. They counted down from three and the match was on, and believe me, it was intense. Arin seemed to overpower Dan in the beginning but every time it got close Dan pulled it back. Their strength seemed close to even. It was maybe halfway through when Dan started to get the lead, his endurance better than Arin's. Arin almost lost for a few moments, almost as if to let Dan's guard down, just to turn it around and push Dan's hand to his side, officially winning.

They both stepped back from the table, Arin cheering and Dan yelling for his loss.

"Fuck, my arm hurts," Arin whined, waving his arm randomly.

Dan hissed, grabbing his hand. "That was not worth it at all,"

"Without a doubt not worth it," Arin echoed.

They continued on their journey, Arin still whining about the ache in his arm as they walked. Dan came up to two men talking, one a story above them in the unfinished building. He asked if they knew where their boss was and got no useful answer, but when he went to turn around he found a rusty-looking elevator against the building. "Oh, this should be fun," Dan muttered, calling to Arin to follow him as he walked into the elevator.

"Yeah, this looks really safe, Danny," Arin said sarcastically as they started to lift into the air.

When they came up to the top part of the building they could hear voices. One yelling to another. Dan's suspicions of it being Wade were true when they heard "That's it, you're fired. Go home,"

Wade started to walk down the steps despite the worker's complaints, his eyes falling onto Dan and Arin. "Oh, shit," Wade swore, backing up and turning around to run up the steps. As soon as he started running, so did Dan and Arin. "He's getting away! Take the stairs, I'll go this way!" Dan ordered, turning a different direction and just barely hearing Arin say "Yeah, I'm going."

While Dan ran into another elevator to go higher, Arin was following Wade, hot on his trail.  He couldn't watch his surroundings, only pausing to jump over gaps.

As soon as Dan got out of the elevator he was chasing Wade, now closer than Arin was due to Arin falling down an unsteady ladder and hitting his shoulder hard. Dan chased after Wade at full speed, nearly falling when he had to stop suddenly, Wade knocking over a huge pile of boxes where he ran. It was impossible to pass. Dan quickly looked over and saw another way to go, jumping over a small gap. He ran towards it, knowing he could jump it easily when suddenly -

He tripped. He fucking tripped over his own feet, just barely grabbing onto the rails on the other side of the jump. Danny tried to pull himself up while struggling to breath from the hit. Arin, on the other hand, had gotten his footing and was chasing after Wade again. Dan could see movement out of the corner of his eye and realized it was Arin on a different ground. He got up and started running again, ignoring the pain in his ribs. He jumped onto a ground that seemed to creek from his weight. Creek louder than a ground should. Before he knew it the floor was falling from under him, and he was grabbing onto one of the ladders for dear life. The entire trip up the unsafe building was enough heights for Danny but now he felt his heart jump.

While he was attempting to pull himself together Arin was still chasing after Wade, his lungs starting to ache from the sudden exertion. He had to stop in his tracks when part of the bridge in front of him broke due to Wade. Looking around, he saw that him and Dan were on opposite sides of the building. They were slowly but surely trapping the man. "He cut me off, he's on your side, Dan!" Arin yelled, running and even sliding over an old table as he ran. Dan was facing his fear of heights to the max, jumping and even swinging on a bar to go over a gap.

He was running when he Wade let another pile of metal cylinders fall, trapping Dan. Through the fall he could see Arin on the other side, on his knees from a rough jump but quickly getting up to chase Wade. Arin found himself at an elevator, his only choice to jump in. He slammed the door closed and pressed on the control panel to take him up, looking over to see Dan also in an elevator separate from his.

Arin's elevator took him slightly higher than Dan, but they both met up quickly. "What is he doing? You can't run up," Dan gasped between breaths. It was then that he realized he lost him. From the adrenaline running through him to the excitement and pure fear, he didn't see where Wade went to next. "Where did he go?" Danny all but yelled, looking around him in a circle.

"Calm down, Danny. As you said, he can't run up forever," Arin sighed, gulping breaths too. Once they caught their breath they continued, walking through a doorway that seemed like the only logical place Wade could have ran to. Arin got in the door before Dan and internally swore once he saw what was in store. A long drop down, only a small space right up against the wall where they could walk through. No rails, no safety.

Dan swore out loud when he saw it. "Okay, you next," Dan muttered, looking up once he saw that Arin was already halfway across, and what Dan said didn't make sense. Dan swallowed his fear and took a deep breath, ignoring Arin laughing at what he said to start walking across. "Fuck, these damn heights again?" Dan swore, looking straight up.

"Just keep going or we're going to lose him," Arin stated once he got across, looking back at Dan to make sure he wasn't overworking himself. He almost felt proud when he saw Dan shimmy across like it was nothing, save for his somewhat terrified expression.

Once they got through the heights section they found themselves back outside. Arin muttered something about the confusing layout before saying louder "Let's look around, he might be hiding somewhere." He opened the door to one shipping container, finding nothing of interest. Danny nodded even though Arin wasn't looking and continued to walk around, opening another container. Arin went to open his second shipping container when suddenly the door burst open, knocking Arin on his ass as Wade bolted out and through some doors. Arin went chasing after him, attempting to open the doors Wade shut behind him when he realized it was locked. "Dan! Over here! I got him!" Arin yelled, looking back to see Dan. Danny ran up, realizing that Arin wanted them to knock own the door together. They counted to three and both hit it shoulder first, causing them to almost fall over once it gave in.

They looked up and saw Wade at a higher point, pulling up the ladder he used to get up. Dan was pissed, looking around for some way to get up. "Arin, I've got an idea," Dan said, his eyes going over to the crane.

"Kill him?" Arin asked, hopeful.

"No, use that crane," Dan pointed. "Well, also kill him, but also use that crane to get up," Danny explained. Arin nodded and jogged up to the control panel, attempting to figure out how it worked. He eventually got the crane all the way down, low enough for Dan to step on the crane part on the edge. Dan got slowly lifted up and moved over to the high ledge Wade was once at, both criminals singing the Indiana Jones theme song out of sync.

"Do you see him?" Arin asked once Dan was on the ground again.

"No, I can't see him anywhere," Dan called back, "Maybe he flew away?"

Arin didn't respond but Dan heard his chuckle. "Keep looking, he couldn't have gone far," Dan nodded, looking around at the rest of the site. He couldn't see him anywhere, not running, not knocking things over. It was when Dan turned around that he was welcomed with an axe mere inches in front of his face, partnered with a bloodthirsty Wade wielding it. Danny fought back, grabbing the blade out of Wade's hands and punching him with all the energy he could muster. Wade got knocked back and started running. "He's heading for the crane! Cut him off!" Dan yelled at Arin before sprinting off at Harvey.

Arin looked around and how he could get around and saw a huge pole going to a lower level. With a rush of adrenaline he jumped on it, sliding down rapidly and yelling "Oh, shit!" as he hit the bottom, falling over. Dan was running on top of the crane, his heart pounding from the running and also from the ground being just so far away. Arin watched from afar as Dan jumped down from the crane into the control panel, going to start it. Arin was slowly shimmying across a small bar in hopes to cut Wade off, and he paused for just a moment when he saw Dan get back up with the crane in motion, climbing on top of the crane and going to walk across it. Even Arin could tell that it was unsafe as shit, and he could only imagine how much Dan was freaking out. Arin was climbing up ladders to get to the cargo box the crane was carrying along with Wade. Arin was just in time, leaping from the building to the box to face Wade.

Arin had to fight Wade. Dan was only halfway across the crane and Wade wasn't going down without a fight. Arin got a few good hits in on him, but ultimately it was a losing fight. It wasn't until a knee to the stomach caused Arin to topple over, and a kick to the side caused him to nearly roll off the cargo box. He grabbed onto the edge with his fingertips, the only thing keeping Arin from falling to his death was Dan coming in at the right time, and Arin just prayed that Dan came in at the right time. Wade stomped on Arin's fingers, causing Arin to cry out and nearly let go. He reached to grab onto Wade's ankle but the crane was running into the building, hitting it so hard the whole box shook, causing Arin to fall off. Arin almost screamed, the scream turning into a grunt when he hit solid ground sooner than he expected. He didn't have time to think, because as soon as he threw a heavy box that was on him off, he was chasing Wade once again. Wade ran to the closest door but it was locked. Arin could almost see the dread in Wade's eyes when suddenly the tables turned, and Wade pushed Arin against the door with all his strength, his hands around Arin's neck. Arin tried to yell, tried to scream for Dan but nothing came out. He tried to struggle until Dan was pulling Wade off of Arin. Arin nearly fell to his knees but Dan gripped his bicep, keeping him somewhat steady.

Arin regained his composure in time to see Wade sliding down the slanted roof, quickly followed by Dan pulling Arin along. They both jumped, sliding for a few seconds before hitting the ground with a loud thump, not landing on their feet like Wade did. They got up quickly, seeing Wade run in the other direction. Once again with the chasing, but this time Dan and Arin stuck together. They chased after Wade for a few seconds before Dan could hear Arin hum. Listening closer he heard the Yakety Sax theme, the one played in goofy running scenes. He smiled, but he couldn't for long because Arin suddenly dived, hitting Wade and pushing him to the ground. Together they held him down, making sure he couldn't escape.

The chase was over.

 

It was really high up and Dan was trying to ignore that fact, instead focusing on Arin tying Wade up to the chair. Danny waited for Arin to finish and stand up before he pulled out his most intimidating look he could, fixed with a slow walk around Wade and his chest puffed out. It was something Mark had taught him in their business before, how to use Dan's height and looks to his advantage. "So, are you going to tell us where Mark is?"

Wade snarled. "Fuck you! I ain't telling you shit!" He retorted, fighting against the rope uselessly.

Dan smiled, Three quarters menacing and one quarter to hide his slight fear that his confident mask would break. "Fuck me? I mean, I'm not into men, especially not you," Dan pulled a gun he had from his back pocket, one he picked up from a table in the workplace. "But I'm sure my bullet wouldn't mind staying snug inside your head, or even better, you could stick it up your ass!" Danny ignored Arin's attempts at hiding his laughter and placed the gun down on the table beside them. "Hey, Arin. I don't know about you, but I see a lot of different things here that could make this guy talk,"

"I have a few ideas," Arin nodded. Dan almost wished Arin would take control, because as much as he wanted to see fear in Wade's eyes, he knew that Arin was much more intimidating than Dan. He was bulkier and knew how to hold his ground, not to mention how his voice seemed much stronger than Dan's. But if you look into Arin's eyes you could easily see how scared he probably was, and that was his weak point. Dan learned how to glaze his eyes over to show little emotion. He copied Mark.

Dan was originally a little afraid of using physical harm, so instead he leaned down in front of Wade, getting into his personal space. "So, where's Mark?"

"I don't know!" Wade yelled.

Dan stood up. "Yeah, we'll see about that." He turned around to Arin, who seemed to be messing with the tools. Dan turned around and without hesitation punched Wade in the face. "This is you're last chance. You better fucking tell me!" Dan yelled, grabbing the back of Wade's head to force eye contact.

"Okay, okay! He's at... 567... Suck my dick street!" Wade said, barking out a laugh after. It felt like each laugh was making Dan's blood boil.

"You think this is funny?" Dan roared. He punched Wade in the face, squashing all feelings of guilt with the fact that Wade was still smiling, even after the second punch. "What about this?" Dan breathed, giving Wade a glare before looking over at Arin, who had a blowtorch and a smirk.

Dan looked at the blowtorch for a few seconds and turned around, kneeling to get to Wade's level, aiming the blowtorch at his face. "I'm going to burn your fucking face off if you don't tell me where Mark is," Dan growled.

"Fuck you," Wade snarled.

Dan moved the nozzle down to Wade's crotch. "How about your dick then, huh?" Dan made sure it was a few inches away before turning it on, making sure not to start a fire. It did seem to get Wade's attention, because his face morphed to fear for a good second. Now they were talking. Once Dan started to break Wade's mask he knew he could go all the way. He walked to the back of Wade, grabbing one side of the chair. "Arin! Help me push him off!" Dan called. Wade muttered a "Goddamn it, Dan!" but didn't say anything more, not until him and Arin pushed his chair that he was tied to all the way to the edge of the building. "Start talking!"

"I ain't saying shit!" Wade repeated.

Dan went to turn around but Arin handed him a nail gun wordlessly. Dan mouthed 'thanks' and smiled before turning around to Wade for what he hoped was the final time. He aimed the gun at his face, saying "So?" expectedly.

"You think I'm scared of you?" Wade growled. Dan smiled and wordlessly aimed the gun down to Wade's foot, shooting it. Wade cried out and tried to fight the ropes harder. Even Arin grimaced.

"Alright! Alright, you win. You win. I'll tell you what you want," Wade groaned, and it truly did sound like he was close to his breaking point.

"Alright? How long is it gonna take?" Arin said, getting into Wade's personal space. In contrast to his usual pose, Wade aimed his head down, almost flinching to the voice.

"Calm down! He's... in Mexico. Mark is in Mexico. In a mansion. I never got any facts past that, but you can assume he's hiding away from others," Wade said quickly, his voice strained.

"You sure about that?" Dan asked, crossing his arms over his chest.

"It's the truth! Just don't tell him I told you!" Wade said.

Dan smiled at Arin, standing up straight and taking a step back from Wade. "Alright, let's go, then," Dan said simply, waving a hand to get Arin to follow.

"What!? Where are you going?! Untie me!"

"Burger king," Arin responded.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the lack of update last week! I may need to start updating every two weeks, as school's starting soon and I need to at least get SOME sleep. I hope you all understand!  
> This chapter was a long one. I could barely remember writing it when I woke up the next day. I'm not sure if that's good or not...  
> Thanks for reading! This has been so much fun! Have a nice day.


	15. I'm Gonna Get Dippin' Dots!

 

 

Dan and Arin walked up to a car, the walk down from the workplace spent laughing over Wade before it fell to silence.

"Guess we're going to Mexico," Arin shrugged, leaning against the car that wasn't his.

"Yeah, and we're gonna need bigger guns than this," Dan pulled out the handgun he decided to pocket earlier, holding it by the barrel and waving it around a bit.

Arin hummed. "Yeah, good idea. And - what are you doing?" Arin looked at Dan skeptically as he put the grip of the gun in front of the drivers side window.

Dan looked around to make sure nobody was looking. The cops were about to come in any minute, Dan knew. They made too much commotion already. "What does it look like?"

"Come on, Danny," Arin put a hand up to Dan's telling him to back off. "We're, like, doing more crime than we went to jail for," He mumbled, picking up a half-bent coat hanger and bending it more, enough to be able to unlock the car. He looked around quickly before sticking the metal rod in the car window, shaking it around to get it unlocked, not missing how Danny whispered "Shiiink, shiiink," quietly to himself.

Arin got it unlocked, throwing the coat hanger to the side and opening the door. "There you go," He smiled proudly.

Arin walked around to the passengers seat, allowing Dan to take the wheel. "Wow, you're like, a criminal or something," Danny said sarcastically.

Once Arin sat down he started to do a quick run down of the car, searching for valuable items, money, anything. "I've got a contact that might fly us down to Mexico," Arin sighed, looking over at Dan.

"Yeah? I've got an idea on how to get guns, but we'll need money," Dan attempted to turn the car engine on, glancing over at Arin. "To buy guns,"

"Yeah, yeah, I assumed that," Arin said. "We can't just rob a bank, though. Too risky,"

"There's much easier places to rob than banks," Dan said, turning on the car and pulling on his seat belt automatically. Arin did the same once he saw Dan do it.

"Like what?" Arin asked.

 

Gas stations. The answer was gas stations. Or, well, a singular gas station. Hopefully. "Roy and Rodgers. You think they'll have enough money?" Arin asked. They were parked in a parking spot, watching the gas station and waiting for a calm moment.

"They better. I'm not going after Mark with just a handgun," Dan said.

Arin took a deep breath, wincing over the dull ache in his ribs. "Yeah, well, I guess we'll see,"

Arin looked over to see Dan pull out the handgun from his pocket and cock it. "Okay, then. You ready?"

The younger man felt a small pit in his stomach when he saw how ready Dan was to storm into the store, guns blazing. "Hey, how about you give me the gun?" Arin asked cautiously, holding out his hand.

Dan looked disappointed. "What do you mean?"

"Well, we've got to keep a low profile, and... just saying, that's not really your thing,"

"Just make it snappy, man. In and out. The longer we stay in the higher chance the police will be called," Dan argued.

"I say we do it the easy way. The police won't be called if we keep a low profile," Arin repeated.

Dan paused for a moment before pouting. Yes, actual pouting. "Come on, we haven't done anything my way. Just let me keep the gun? I was the one who found it in the first place..." Dan asked, and his puppy dog eyes must have been practiced, because Arin gave in quicker than he would have liked to admit.

"Fine, just don't let anybody get hurt, alright?" Arin patted Dan's back, getting out of the car.

"When did anybody ever get hurt by a gun?" Dan asked sarcastically as he stuffed it back in his pocket, allowing his jacket to cover it up.

Dan was set on the 'casual walk up' followed by a loud, unexpected robbery but Arin was already running up to the doors, exclaiming "I'm gonna get a fun dip! And I'm gonna get a snickers bar!"

"I'm gonna get dippin' dots! The ice-cream of the future!" Dan exclaimed, following Arin. Arin walked into the doors, pretending to be a usual customer, other than the remnants of giggles. It was only a few seconds before Dan burst into the store, making sure to be extra dramatic by kicking the door down and shooting into the air. "Nobody fucking move! Stay calm!" Danny yelled, knowing how useless it would be by saying 'stay calm'. Arin walked up to the woman at the cash register, making sure she didn't do anything brash. Dan briskly walked up to her as well, aiming the gun at her and saying "You see this? It looks like a gun, but it isn't. It's the key to the cash register, so open it," Dan ordered, holding back a smile, knowing Arin was doing the same.

"You're wasting your time, there's barely any money -"

"Open it!" Dan repeated. She slowly reached over to open the register, keeping one hand in the air. She picked up nearly every coin and dropped it on the counter in front of Dan, the coins barely equaling more than a few dollars. "Shit," Dan swore. He looked at Arin and back to the woman. "Where's the safe!?"

"There is no safe!"

"Bullshit!" Dan glared at the lady before turning to Arin. "There's going to be a safe somewhere, keep looking," Dan said. They walked off together, Arin going to the other side of the small store to threaten another man there, ordering him on his knees. While he did that Dan sabotaged the phone.

They walked to the complete other side of the store before Arin whispered "Where is the safe? It doesn't seem too safe to me,"

Dan huffed. "Good one, Ar. I love robbing shit with you," He said, picking up a few Skittle bags and stuffing them in his pocket, Arin doing the same but with energy bars. Probably a wiser decision. Once they walked around the store to make sure there was nobody and no way to call the police they continued, walking into the door near the counter. Arin walked in first and was welcomed with a surprise attack from what seemed like the only other man working in the store. Arin was caught off-guard and the man quickly grabbed both of his arms, leaving Arin open. Dan quickly punched the man in the face, successfully knocking him out and off of Arin.

Dan walked up to the other side of the smaller room, towards the obvious safe. "Fuck, we need a code," Dan said.

Arin turned around to go at the woman, finding her red-handed as she reached for a gun under the table. He ran over to her, prying the gun out of her hands and aiming it at her. "We need the code to the safe," Arin stated, his voice calmer than Dan's, yet still forceful.

"I don't have it!"

If it was Dan talking, he would have pulled the gun on her, but Arin isn't like that. "Look, you seem like a smart lady. Just give us the combination," Arin said calmly, holding the gun and his hand up in front of him to seem more passive.

She took a long sigh. "One, three, seven," she said. Arin nodded and called out the combination to Dan in case he didn't hear. Dan knelt down to work on the code in the other room and it was only a few moments before the alarm went off.

"Alright, I've got the cash. Let's go," Dan said quickly as he walked out of the room, pocketing what Arin assumed to be money in his inner jacket pocket. They both jogged out of the store, the jogging turned sprinting as they ran to their car. They were in there too long, they both knew, and they didn't want any more police chases. Dan hopped in the passengers seat and Arin in the drivers and Arin slammed on the gas, seat belts an after thought. Just as they turned out of the gas station Dan saw a police car just moments before the sirens turned on. He only heard the crash of the same car as they sped down the street.

 

"Yeah, no problem," Dan said into a payphone. There was a pause, and Dan could feel Arin watching him from a few feet away. "Yeah, I know where that is. Alright, got it. I'll be there," With that he went to put the phone back on the holder, paused for a moment and instead ripped out the phone cord.

"What the fuck was that for?" Arin questioned, walking up from where he was leaning on the wall.

"Sorry, force of habit," Danny joked, getting a laugh from Arin. "We've got the guns!" Dan smiled, feeling proud of himself for actually getting that to work.

Arin hummed. "You trust this person?" He questioned.

"Of course, she's a gun runner," Dan said sarcastically. "I never thought I'd be the one saying this, but stop worrying. It's bad for your heart," Dan enjoyed the moments where he could pretend that he was the calm and collected one in the relationship and that Arin was the worrier. It gave him a small up in his confidence, even if it was totally false.

"My heart will go on,"

Dan somehow seemed to completely miss the joke. "Don't worry about it, she owes me a favour, anyway," Dan turned back towards the car. "Now let's go get those guns!"

 

It was early evening when they got to the spot, no later than six. Arin was jiggling his leg for most of the car ride while Dan drove, both of them sitting in silence. Dan slowed the car to a stop, only realizing that he never put on a seat belt when he got out of the car. Arin did the same but stood a few steps behind Dan while he talked to the woman they were meeting, who was sporting a yellow shirt and jeans that Arin instantly noticed as 'mom jeans'.

"Jasmine," Danny nodded, putting out his hand for a handshake.

Jasmine returned the handshake. "Dan."

"You good?" Danny asked. Small talk wasn't Dan's best trait.

"Yeah, who's this guy?" Jasmine nodded towards Arin who perked up slightly.

"Don't worry, he's with me," Dan said quickly.

"Oh, he's with you?" Jasmine raised an eyebrow skeptically, sauntering towards Arin.

Arin tensed slightly, weary of the woman. "I'm Arin," Arin introduced himself, not letting his weariness show from his voice.

"Hi, Arin. Nice to meet you," Jasmine said, voice cold with a pinch of sarcasm. Arin smiled politely in response.

Both Dan and Arin startled when Jasmine turned on her heels towards Dan. "You're a fucking idiot!" Dan was going to tell her to calm down, but she continued. "Why don't you just bring your entire family next time? I'm out," She threw her hands in the air and turned around back to her car.

"Hey, what's wrong with you?" Dan called to her. That seemed to get her angry, because she turned around to face the man.

"What's wrong with me? What the fuck is wrong with you? I don't do work with strangers, you know that, and this guy -" She pointed at Vincent. "- seems like a stranger to me!"

Neither Dan nor Arin spoke up for a second before Arin took a step forwards. "You've got a problem with me?"

Jasmine then turned around, pulling a gun out of her pocket and getting into Arin's personal space. "Yeah, I've got a problem with you. Do you have a problem with me?" She aimed the gun at the bottom of Arin's chin, the safety still on.

Arin saw Dan move a bit, as if he was about to intervene but hesitated. Arin shot him a look and moved his gaze back to Jasmine, grabbing the gun out of her hand. He held it for a moment, not losing eye contact as he took the ammo out and flipped it in his hand so the handle was facing Jasmine.

Jasmine took the gun back and Dan resisted the urge to whisper "That was kinda cool." Jasmine turned over to Dan. "Who the hell is this guy?" She asked, most of the venom in her voice now gone.

"Let's just get these guns, and we'll be out of your hair in no time, okay?" Jasmine stared at Dan suspiciously, so he pulled a wad of money out of his pocket. "Okay, Jasmine?"

Jasmine took the money and turned to her car. "There's five whole dollars. Go buy yourself some ice-cream," Arin whispered once Jasmine was out of whispering-range. They both held back their giggles, Dan rubbing his face to get the smile off before Jasmine turned around.

Jasmine unlocked the car trunk to reveal an array of different guns, ranging from the simple handgun to ones Dan probably couldn't remember the name of. Arin looked up at Dan with excitement in his eyes before going down to the guns, picking up one. "A MP5, fuck yeah," Arin loaded the gun and took a few test shots at the wall. While he was doing that Dan picked up a shotgun, aiming away from Arin and Jasmine and shooting the wall. Oh, they were going to have some fun.

"I'm going to shoot some bottles!" Arin called from inside a house, followed by a loud cheer and the sound of his gun. Dan laughed, somewhat disappointed that he couldn't see Arin. From the corner of his eye he saw that Jasmine was climbing into her car on the phone, the fear of embarrassing himself slowly draining.

"Hey, Arin! I'm going to shoot the wall, tell me if it goes through?" Dan asks before shooting at the house Arin was in.

Arin yelled "Ow!" loudly, followed by giggles. Dan laughed and went back to the trunk, putting down the shotgun for a much larger gun. "What is that, an AK?" Arin asked, walking towards Dan. Dan shrugged in response - he was never a gun person - and aimed at the wall.

Dan decided that he liked the shotgun more and switched to that, turning around when he heard his name. "Hey, Danny! Lets shoot bottles!" He saw Arin throw a bottle as hard as he could, it flying through the air and landing on the ground far away. "You didn't shoot it!" Arin whined. Arin threw another one, but by the time Dan aimed it was hitting the ground. He still attempted to shoot it with a five-second delay. Arin laughed and threw another one, Dan doing the same thing only on purpose this time. Arin was giggling so hard he threw the next bottle haphazardly, it barely going half the distance it did before. Dan once again shot it with a five-second delay, followed by "Killing it!" Dan really got down to aim and Arin started throwing bottles rapid fire, a huge box of them right by his feet. It only took two more tries for Dan to successfully hit one, something that was worth cheering for.

"You ready to go?" Arin asked, slinging his gun over his shoulder.

"Yeah, let me just talk to Jasmine quickly. You get in the car," Dan said, walking up to where Jasmine was getting out of her car. Dan leaned against the stone wall, asking her about what she was doing. He tried listening, he really did, but Arin caught his attention by running across the area. He must have seen Dan and Jasmine look his way because he started cheering. "Woo! Yeah!" He shot into the air freely a few times. Dan started laughing at his friend and even Jasmine raised her eyebrows in amusement. "Hey - do you guys - did you guys see? Woo!" Arin shot into the air more, smiling so wide that Dan was almost certain it was one of the happiest looks he'd ever seen on Arin. "I - I really like this gun... and - and..." Suddenly Arin screamed, startling Dan but quickly devolving him into laughter.

When Dan stopped laughing he said goodbye to Jasmine, calling Arin to follow him to the car. One look at each other and they were giggling again, both of them waving bye to Jasmine and driving out of the lot.

Jasmine watched as the car left, not moving until it was almost out of sight.

 

Jasmine drove into an abandoned motel, stalking up to the payphone quickly. She put in a couple quarters and dialed a number.

"Hey, it's me. I've got information on Daniel."

On the other end of the phone was Sean, leaning on a counter top. "Oh, yeah? You know where he is?"

"I just met him," Jasmine replied.

"Give me his location," Sean said. There was no time for beating the bush, not at a time like this.

"Sure, but it's going to cost you."

Sean shook his head. "Don't worry about that, just tell me where he is." There was silence, followed by "Alright. Good job. I'll talk to you later,"

Sean hung up the phone and walked out of the house and into a pool area. He looked up to the second story of the building, calling "Mark!"

Only a moment later Mark walked out on his deck, leaning over the bars. "What's up?"

"I've found him!" Sean called, stuffing his hands in his pockets.

"Good! Make sure to put our best men on him, got it? We want him dead!"

"Got it, boss!"

Sean turned around to leave, but was stopped by "Hey, Sean?"

"Yeah?"

It was only then that he noticed Mark was in a bathing suit. "You think I could jump in the pool from here?"

Sean smirked a bit. "Yeah, you've done it before!"

"I'm going to do it!" Mark took a few steps back. "I'm going to do it,"

He took a running jump.

 

 

 

 

Suzy stood by the kitchen table, looking down at the newspaper on her counter, the large words "Fugitive At Large" pasted on top of a picture of her husband's face. The thought that their baby was due any day terrified Suzy, the thought that she would go through labour without her husband. Suddenly, as if called on, a sharp pain came from her abdomen, almost like her guts were attempting to cramp and tighten in on themselves. Suzy gasped, doubling over as another wave hit her. It only took a few moments for her to realize that she was in labour. She started to feel them nearly a half hour earlier, but due to her fear of being left alone she chalked them up to back pain. It seemed like the pain had tripled in the span of a second, like bad period cramps but _worse_.

She was terrified as she called the emergency number, her mind racing from the baby to Arin to the waves of pain hitting her abdomen getting worse every minute.

Suzy moved to sit on the floor while waiting for the ambulance, the wish that Arin could be beside her, comforting her.

But he wasn't here when she needed him most.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My spellcheck: 60% "Arin: Did you mean to say, Erin, or Akin?" 10% "YoU cAn'T stARt a seNTenCE WiTh "WhICh" yOu dUMb FucK" 30% "This is a vulgar word and may be considered offensive!!1!!"  
> This chapter seems a bit like a filler... welp, I forgot how many scenes were in A Way Out. I hope I can space out my chapters well.
> 
> Thank you for reading! I hope you have a great day!


	16. XXX Summer Blues, Pussyrama

"Are you sure you can get us a plane?" Dan asked, pulling the car over by a nearly deserted movie entrance. He was driving, Arin sitting next to him, shaking his leg vigorously for the past five minutes.

"Yeah, I hope so," Arin responded, eyes moving from the window to Dan as he unbuckled his seatbelt. The two of them got out of the car and walked up the steps, ignoring the cold night air.

"Well, there' your phone," Dan pointed towards the payphone across the way. Arin nodded and Dan watched as he walked there, paused and turned around. "Neither of us have change, huh?" He called, walking back to Dan.

"Fuck, that's something, huh?" Dan stuffed his hands in his pockets, searching hopelessly for spare change.

"There's a newsstand just over there," Arin mentioned, nodding in the direction if the newsstand. "I'll steal some change, I guess,"

"Dude," Dan put a hand on Arin's arm before he could walk away. "Don't... don't steal it. Just buy something, I don't know," Dan reasoned. Arin sighed dramatically.

"Fine. I'll waste my money buying a stupid newspaper," With that, Arin made his way to the stand, buying the dirtiest magazine he could find. He pocketed the change and once he met back up with Dan he gave him the magazine with a grin. Dan took one look at the magazine and started to laugh.

"Summer blues... Pussyrama?" Arin started giggling as well. They had a good laugh over the title and Dan threw it out in the garbage closest to him, ignoring Arin's betrayed gasp.

Arin went to the phone booth and Dan sat down on a bench nearby. Arin put in the coins and dialed the number, waiting for a response. "Hey, it's Arin. I'm going alright, thanks. Hey, I... uhh, Need a flight somewhere. Tomorrow. Can you make that work? Great, thanks," There was a pause, and Arin's face morphed into fear. "What? Holy - is she alright? Where is she?"

It was only a minute or two before Arin walked out. As soon as Dan saw, he stood up. "Did you get us a plane?" Dan asked, slight worry bubbling up when he saw Arin's face.

"Yeah, but I... I need to go," Arin stuttered, his mind racing. Danny opened his mouth to speak, but Arin cut him off. "I'm fine, but we need to go,"

"Arin!" Dan suddenly exclaimed, stopping Arin from babbling on. He grabbed onto Arin's arm. "You can't just walk off without explaining anything, man. What's going on?"

"Fuck, I-I can explain it later. We'll fucking... I don't know, get a motel room and you can stay there but... but there's something going on and I need to be there, alright?"

Dan sighed. "Arin, fuck, take a breathe. Whatever's going on, it'll be fine. Just tell me - Oh shit!" Dan flinched and ducked once he heard a gunshot breaking through the near silent night air. Dan tried to look over at who was shooting at them but Arin was already pulling him by the wrist into the theater, yelling "Come on!"

They ran through the door and hid behind the wall in the hallway, taking a second to breath. But the man was still coming forward and shooting often.

"Shit, the guns in the car!" Dan swore.

"There's no time for that. We need to go!" Arin responded. They started running down the hallway, looking for somewhere to hide or escape. Dan flinched again when he heard gunshots, but they were a bit farther away. Just after, he heard Arin mumble "Bang, bang,"

They made it to a door and with little hesitance broke it down. Dan shut the door quickly, not knowing really how close the hitman was. He was about to tell Arin to help barricade the door but Arin was already two steps ahead, pushing a heavy metal cabinet in front of it. "That'll buy us time. You think we can get through that vent?" Arin asked, tapping Dan and pointing towards a vent above the walkway. Arin quickly jogged towards a moving platform, pushing it to one side. "Get up on the stairs," Arin mentioned.

"What stairs?"

"There are stairs behind you,"

Dan turned around and faced stairs. "Ah, yes. So there is." Dan got up onto the platform and Arin started to wheel him to the side with the vent, warning him not to look down. Once Dan got to the other side he called for Arin to climb on a box so he could pull him up. They could hear the banging on the door getting more persistent, the banging not only hitting the door, but also the cabinet in front. They heard the door fall down just as they unlocked the vent and started to climb through it.

They found themselves just minutes later in the actual theatre, on top of the walkways. The hitman found his way through the door, and quickly heard Dan and Arin up there. The two convicts hid behind the light fixtures, moving them to keep them safe as they shimmied. The sound of one of the lights breaking made Dan jump out of his skin. They got across the walkway and to a control panel. "Here, you walk behind the machine. I'll move it," Arin said.

Dan nodded and they started it, Dan having to slow down for the machine. "How much ammo does he have?" Dan asked Arin as the gunshots continued, resulting in a shrug from Arin.

The hitman didn't know Dan was there. He was still shooting at Arin. Dan jumped off of the walkway, ambushing the hitman. Nothing ever goes his way, though, and the ambush quickly turned into a wrestling match. That Dan was losing. Probably because the hitman had a gun. Arin came just in time, pouncing on the man and getting him off of Dan. They rolled and fell off the stage, the hitman using it to his advantage by elbowing Dan in the face and turning to choke Arin. Dan freaked out and blanked for a moment before grabbing a rope discarded on the ground, using it to choke the hitman. Arin grabbed the other end of the rope and they both pulled hard until the man went limp. Danny wasn't entirely sure if they killed him or if he was knocked out.

They both took a second to breath before standing up, Arin checking himself for any bad injuries quickly. "We need to finish what we started. Mark's going to keep sending guys like this. Who knows if we'll survive the next one,"

"I know," Arin sighed.

"Do you?" Dan responded, surprising Arin. "Well then why would you just up and leave all of a sudden? If you didn't listen to me and walked to the car you would have gotten shot, y'know,"

Arin ran his hand through his hair. "Fuck, I know. The reason why I wanted to leave is because my wife, Suzy, is in the hospital. She just had a baby," Arin explained.

"Oh, that's great, dude! Mazel Tov!" Dan smiled.

Arin smiled faintly. "Yeah, whenever I think about her birthday I'll be reminded of when we killed a dude," Arin said in a light-hearted way. Or, as light-hearted as possible.

"Wow, dark," Dan muttered. "Well, murder or not, you need to see your kid,"

"Yeah, I'm also thinking we should leave this crime scene," Arin mentioned. "I mean, I don't know, just a thought,"

Danny smiled. "Alright, here's the plan: We're gonna go to the hospital, go see your kid and then it's back to business. Once we're done this our lives can go back to normal," Dan said, patting Arin on the back. Arin smiled back, eyes fixated at the wood planks on the ground as he mumbled "Yeah, seems good." After a moment he turned around towards the exit. "But really, we should be getting out of the crime scene,"

The two of them started to walk out, Dan somehow in a better mood than before, and Arin somehow just a bit more melancholy.

 

 

_The plane ride had been quiet for a good ten minutes, Dan looking out the window and Arin looking around the plane. "Y'know, I could tell that was your first kid," Dan spoke._

_Arin looked up at Dan. "Yeah?" He straightened up and leaned back against his seat._

_"Yeah, like the way you were holding that baby and shit..."_

_Arin huffed. "Yeah, I was holding a lot of shit with that baby," Arin teased_

_"Sorry about the 'shit' part, I don't mean it in a bad way, just -" Dan realized he was rambling and stopped himself. "Anyway, I'm just trying to say that it's great to watch a kid grow up,"_

_Arin looked down at his hands, nodding. "Yeah, seems like it,"_

_Dan sighed. "What's going on, man? Between you and Suzy,"_

_Arin leaned forward, trying to gather the words for what he's been feeling. "Suzy... she's the love of my life, man. Always there, always supportive. She was really iffy on having a kid, but she ended up agreeing because, well, we could come closer together as like, a family. And I abandoned her. I went to jail and she was alone. She gave birth and... I wasn't fucking there, man," Arin shook his head. "It just... really sucks,"_

_Danny nodded. It was all he really could do._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Back on track, baby!  
> After three months (September 1st to December 1st) I have finally gotten past my writers block on this and wrote two chapters in one night. I'm dead inside.  
> Thank you all for sticking around. I will be updating every two weeks from now until the finale (Which may only be in a few more chapters...) Thank you for reading, your support means so much to me! Have a good day or night, wherever you are.


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